Life is a series of tradeoffs; saying yes to something is saying NO to something else. Chinese inventor and philosopher Lin Yutang once quipped, “Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” One of the toughest daily decisions we all have to make is saying NO to ourselves, our family, and our friends. Never explain does that need it don’t matter, does that matter don’t need it.

Time is the most valuable commodity in the world, and if it is not managed efficiently, you will spend it continuously optimizing for other people’s priorities. Nothing succeeds like success; success begets success. Be careful what you ask for; you might get it. When you get to the top, one of the challenges you will have to deal with is managing requests such as speaking engagements, coffee chats, mentorship requests, pitches etc. Your time here is limited, and your bandwidth begins to diminish with time because of your newfound success. Saying NO to people and their requests will be one of the skills you would have to develop quickly.