Why All That “Yes” Sneaks Up on You
Glaucoma is a gradual hardening of the eyeball, which if left
untreated, can cause blindness. It’s an especially insidious disease;
because the impairment is so gradual, the victim is often able to
make subtle, unconscious compensations for a slowly shrinking
field of vision, becoming aware of the disease only when it’s too
late to treat it.
Making too many commitments can be like that, too.
“The problem with clutter in our lives, like clutter in our clos-
ets, is it arrives one piece at a time, never in basketfuls,” Benson
Wright notes. “It’s not too difficult to refuse a huge, overwhelming
load of additional responsibilities; it’s tough, however, to decline
‘just one more.’”
Add up all the extra tasks you perform, anything above and
beyond what’s required. Check your planner and look closely at
time slots in the evening and on weekends, your “personal” time.
Here’s the start of one person’s list:
- Coach a Y basketball team
- Chair the workplace expectations committee at the office
- Coordinate United Way fundraising in the department
- Serve as recording secretary for the church council
- And on and on...
These are all good, worthwhile things to do. Somebody should
do them. But does it have to be you in every instance?
The items on your list are all good, worthy endeavors, too. You
probably genuinely enjoy doing them. We tend to enjoy the things
we do well and gravitate toward these tasks when we have a choice.
Time management would be a lot easier if there were obvious time
wasters on your list and tasks you dreaded doing.
L E A R N I N G T O S AY “N O”