photo by sanpadros

True, you won’t dazzle your friends and dismay your enemies is you could instantly invisible or run faster than a speeding bullet.  You might also find yourself the focus of less than admiring looks when you wield this power.  But, used properly, this little known superpower can save you from daily evils, protect your precious time and instantly enhance your mystique and appeal.

What daily evils?

In a nutshell – interruptions, time wasters, procrastination.

All of the above conspire to derail you from doing what you were meant to do.  To drain your energy and focus on excellence with endless distractions and demands that can often be backhanded with a question or simply denied.

What The Power of No looks like

No, you will not check or respond to email until the late afternoon so that you can devote the best part of your time and energy on accomplishing what is truly important.

No, you will not allow anyone to interrupt you  with what they are doing.  Shut off all ringers, alerts, phones, close your door or place a sign that says, “Do Not Disturb until ________________” to give yourself a block of time to work.  Most of the time, people will impulsively ask for things that they can either handle themselves or that can wait until you are ready.

No,  you cannot make the meeting until you see the agenda and then see if your input can be delivered as an email.

Note:  Meetings take up a lot of time.  Here is what I think.

If the meeting is to brainstorm, they haven’t done their homework and are relying on you to do it for them.

If the meeting is to identify solutions, email your thoughts and conference yourself in.

If the meeting is to build community or a relationship, go but make sure you set a time limit (“I would be glad to join you but I can only stay for the first hour.”) and you have a short list of points to cover.

Your precious time

By practicing The Power of No, not only will you regain absolute control of your actions,  people will also become accustomed to your working style.  The unexpected demands for your attention will diminish and you will have more time to accomplish what is truly important.  Like changing the world.

An interesting side effect of The Power of No occurs with consistent use.

Your mystique and appeal

Once people get over being deflected, they begin to associate your limited access with an aura of reclusive mystique and success born of being busy doing whatever successful people are busy doing.

By doing less of what other people want and by doing more of what you want, you actually project a fierce, determined focus – something many people aspire to but rarely maintain.

The secret in doing it resides in The Power of No.  Use it for the forces of good and not evil,  for your lean and mean working style and not the pleasure of procrastination.

For extra panache, wear a red cape.

Get more Powerful!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your artspy

Hoong Yee