Know When To Say No
When I launched my newly formed business in 2007 I had the opportunity of representing a famous global beauty brand. I had recently stopped working with Revlon and thought this was the perfect opportunity to stay active in the sector. I admired the team I was going to work with, and the product was pretty awesome. So, deep breath, I went for it. Still, I had an uneasy feeling. The money was ok, but I could see that the work was going to be, shall we say, very involved. I wasn’t sure it was the right fit, but I went for it anyway. Two years in I didn’t think I’d made the wrong decision per se, but I can’t lie, it was quite the experience.
Sometimes you need to know when to say no.
I am a BIG yes person, but there are those moments in life when something you’re doing, or considering doing, doesn’t feel quite right, and you’re better served to just say no. It’s hard because often at these moments you’re at a fork in the road and either direction looks promising. Sometimes, the idea of saying no feels like both a relief and the right thing to do, but you don’t want to take the easy way out. Or, no could feel like giving in to failure. No one loves that feeling.
Recently, I was remembering when, many years ago, I was 60 pages into writing a novel and I just wasn’t feeling it. I really grappled with what to do. The story was solid, and the characters were solid, but I wasn’t feeling the magic. I knew that at some point in the future, I was going to have to come to grips with my lack of passion for this storyline and move on. So, I cut my losses early on. I let it go.
If you are contemplating something new, or working on a project, but just not feeling it here are some tips for helping navigate what to do!
How important to you is the project or job to be done? If you walked away would it impact your livelihood? Can you put a timeline on what you’re doing?
With my beauty client, the income and the status of a global name were important for my company, so I was willing to work with them for a certain amount of time.
Would you be letting someone else down if you decide to walk away? If yes, would the impact create a real issue for them? Would you lose a friendship?
It’s not easy to say no when it’s going to hurt someone close to you - a friend, colleague, or family member. Sometimes it’s worth the sacrifice of your own comfort to stay the course. You really need to weigh the cost - to you and others.
Are you not letting go because of your ego and your desire to not have a failure in your wake?
We’ve ALL been there. Saying no can definitely feel like giving up, but it can also FREE you up for the thing ahead, that may be way better than the thing you’ve left behind. Don’t let your ego kill your next opportunity
If you do decide to say no give yourself time to mourn the loss of the thing you’ve buried.
It takes time to heal, whether we like it or not. Sometimes ‘no’ can feel like a death, you need to time get through it. There’s no getting over something, you’ve got to make the journey through