By Naomi Ayibaemi Frank-Opigo

Kelvin Kelly was speaking on the Tim Ferriss podcast about the benefit of boundaries when he said “Saying no is an art, and the more I’ve done it, the more I realize it’s about protecting time for the things that truly matter.”

You can assume this, in a broad sense, to mean that we create room for things that will matter the most at the end of life by saying no to unimportant things today. You can also easily see this in the context of work, where we get to work on the things that matter to us, prevent burnout, and protect our longevity as employees when we learn to say “no” without feeling guilty.

Why Employees Struggle with Saying No
It is normal to have hesitation about declining work at your job. There a few reasons you might have trouble setting boundaries by saying “no” but we will be focusing on the benefits of saying “no” when needed

Increased Productivity Through Focus

Focus is singular. That is, you can only actually focus on one thing at a time. The fewer tasks to accomplish, the more time can be dedicated to attending to them. With this, the quality of your work improves.

Mental Health and Stress Reduction

Setting good boundaries with colleagues and even superiors at work can help manage mental stress. By respectfully asserting yourself and enforcing your boundaries, you are able to prevent work overload from unnecessary tasks.

Strengthening Professional Relationships

The compounding effect of assertiveness in the workplace is respect. Once you begin to work on what is essential and stop over-extending, your work quality increases and so does the quality of your professional relationships. You will now be known to keep your word and deliver promptly, and excellently.

Strategies to Politely Decline Without Using the Word “No”

• Using Positive Language to Redirect Requests
• Offering Alternatives or Compromises
• Setting Time-Based Boundaries
• Using Humour or Casual Deflection

We spend a sizeable portion of most days either at work or interacting with work tasks. As much as ambition and work ethic are important, prioritizing a manageable workload needs to be done to prevent burnout. Creating workload boundaries and finding ways to politely enforce them are soft skills anyone who works should have.