When to say NO to work
In the beginning of 2019, my husband and I had overbooked ourselves. He had just started a new full time job. We had a screen printing business. I had my vinyl decal business. Plus a family to take care of. It was too much. We closed the screen printing business and sold everything. I drastically rearranged my time and priorities. 2019 was the year I started to say NO to work – for a few reasons. If you find yourself in a similar situation, here’s when to say NO to work.
Your goals aren’t being met
You are so busy with everyone else’s projects, requests, custom items, etc, that you find you’re spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere in the long run.
For me, I wanted to focus on this blog and creating more designs for my vinyl business. I couldn’t do that if I was doing everyone’s custom orders. I would spend a good 2 hours in themorning answering messages and doing custom designs. 2 hours!
My husband came in to my office one morning and saw my frustration. He knew what I would like to accomplish that day and I hadn’t gotten close to starting it. He could see my problem. Immediately I took the actions to remove custom design work from my plate – and the results (and my sanity) have been fabulous!
You aren’t enjoying it anymore
Ever feel like working is a chore? Sure it can happen from time to time. But if you aren’t loving what you are doing – it’s time to say no and take a different approach. Try to breathe life back into your work by making some new products, raising your prices so it’s REALLY worth your time, or do a business-makeover. Start over if you need to with a new logo or design. Or you can rearrange your schedule so your work-flow flows better.
You’re overwhelmed
This one may seem obvious, but when you find that you have too much on your plate – start to say NO to work! Maybe you’re a people-pleaser type like I am. You just want everyone to be happy! As a result, you’re willing to bend over backwards to do the work so someone else is happy – but behind the scenes you’re struggling internally.
Saying NO was the best decision I began implementing in 2019. I turn down at least 75% of custom design requests on all of my shop’s online platforms. Spending time to design other people’s custom decals was not worth it to me. The ONLY time I would say yes is if they were a repeat customer, or if I could use the design I created in my shop. Otherwise, it just wasn’t worth spending my time on it.
You need a break
Maybe any of the above reasons to say NO to work isn’t your problem. Or maybe you’re simply tired and need a mental break. Again, if you’re like me – an introvert – some quality time alone in peace WITHOUT the distraction from work usually does the trick. Take a week off, or a weekend, or just a day! Turn off your phone’s distractions. My personal favorite is to go on a vacation where you physically CAN’T work. For me, a vacation is literally the only way I can fully relax when away from home. Implementing these breaks will help you come back fully recharged and ready to go.
I’ve included some ways that I’ve used to say NO:
For other lessons and AHA moments I’ve learned – go see my recent post: My biggest AHA moments of 2019.
