When Should I Say “No” to Friends And Family?

We all have so much to do, yet we often want to do more.

This is why we need to start saying “No.”

The truth is, we can’t do everything.

Sometimes, we have to say “no” to many things to say “yes” to what matters most.

But this is hard work and can be a lonely road.

This article will not only explain how to start saying “no” to your bad habits and friends, but it’ll also show you how to stick to your habits and stand firm when you decline your friends.

But first, let’s talk about why it’s so hard to say no in the first place.

Why Is It So Hard to Say “No”?

You might think that saying no is easy, but the truth is that it’s much more complex than it sounds.

To start, most of us don’t want to be disruptive.

We want to please people, and saying yes makes us feel good at the moment. 

But, saying yes is a one-way ticket to guaranteeing your failure.

Most people’s day is consumed with so many obligations that they cannot focus on one task.

From work to social media to shopping, there are so many things that we want to do that it’s easy to feel like we’re always running behind.

But this is a bad way to live.

If you want to get ahead and be successful, you have to be able to focus and say no to the things that aren’t worth it. 

When we say yes to everything, it spreads us thin, and we often feel like we have no time left for ourselves.

How to Say “No” to Friends And Family

If you don’t want to go to an event or do something for your friends and family, stand firm and say “No.” It’s essential to speak to them in a respectful and understanding tone so they understand you better. 

If they understand your decision, great. 

If they feel offended, still stay at peace with your decision.

How Do We Cut Off Our Bad Habits?

How far could we go if we just cut out all of our tasks and bad habits?

Imagine starting your day with a clean slate where you only choose productive habits. 

This is possible by saying “no” to everything that is not productive.

You have to hate the time-wasting habits with the bottom of your soul.

For example, I used to be addicted to video games. 

I would wake up, do what was required of me, then I would play video games. 

I knew I couldn’t play video games to be successful, but I didn’t know what to do.

One of the only things that worked for me was getting rid of all of it. 

As cheesy as it is, I had to delete every trace of video games in my life, and I had to cut ties with people whom I only played video games with.

If I had said “yes” to video games, I could’ve never had the opportunity to say “yes” to working out or spending time on my blog.

How to Beat the Excuses

But, this is the part where the excuses come. If you do two things for an equal amount of time in the day and say one is more important than the other, you’re lying to yourself and are addicted to a bad habit.

If I say working out and getting fit is a priority, but I slept in late, I didn’t have it as high of a priority as it needed to be.

But, beating your excuses is easier said than done.

However, it’s still possible.

In the beginning, sticking to your habits is tough since you haven’t built the routine yet.

But, if you only do 1 minute of the habit you need to do every day, and you don’t go over it, the habit will become a part of your routine.

Once that happens, you can slowly increase the intensity of the habit until you’re satisfied with your results.

If you want to find out how you can stick to your habits and what I learned from my call with Hamza Ahmed, you can read my article here where I share his secret to habit forming.

Conclusion

If you want to be successful in any field, it takes a tremendous amount of work and commitment to perform that task for multiple hours per day. 

If you say “yes” to playing video games, going to a barbecue, and shopping at the mall, you’re not actually committed to what you think you were. 

Start saying “No.”

Your purpose must be so vital to you that you’re willing to sacrifice everything to achieve it.

I hope this helped!

If you want to learn how to stick to your habits, here’s my article where I share how I stuck to my habits after applying what was in Atomic Habits.