Say “Yes” Until You Have to Say “No”
Early in your career, you need to jump into every opportunity you can get, so you say yes to everything. Even the things that seem kinda dumb or pointless or weird or inconvenient. You say yes and do them anyway. Because you never know what doors they will open.
Then, as you start building your skills and reputation, you begin to find yourself in situations where you have more opportunities than you need. This is when you begin to strategically start saying “no.”
By saying “no,” you’re able to focus on the opportunities that present the biggest upside and you get even further, faster. Eventually, you arrive at a point where you are forced to say “no” to almost every opportunity.
Congratulations. You have now “made it.”
The “say yes until you have to say no” principle doesn’t just work in business, but in many areas of life:
- If you move to a new city and want to make friends, say yes to everything until you’re so popular you can start saying no to invitations to the lamer parties.
- If you’re single and want to find a relationship, say yes to meeting everyone until you find people you like enough to say no to people with terrible Tinder profiles.
