Many people don’t realize that, in the professional world, it is OK to say NO. Steve Jobs put it nicely in Apple WWDC 1997, that it is OK to say NO. We are being bombarded with thousands of problem today, which need to be solved by a new way of thinking. Here is the quote from Steve Jobs:

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.

Well, he is a CEO, some might say. When you are a CEO, you can say anything you want. The fact is that, Steve Jobs admit on the stage that it is not easy to say NO. Steve Jobs was fired before from the company, and just returned, so his position is not safe yet. And second, even if you are not a CEO, you can still say NO to many things. What you need to do is change the way you say it, adapting to the situation.

First, say NO with a reason. And the reason must make sense. It is OK to say NO if you are at the moment focusing to get a job done, or some other commitment that you need to fulfil. If you say NO because, for example, you simply feel overqualified, while the fact that you are not busy doing anything else, that would make no sense.

Second, work on alternative to solve the problem. When someone asked you to do something, for most of the time it is to solve one or more problem. Stay focused on the problem, on the person who ask you to do something. He can be your direct manager, or the CEO of the company, but if you focus on alternative to solve the problem, it will be easier to say no and for him/her to accept it.

The solution that both of you agree might be to ask someone else to take the task, or to defer the task on a later date. Whichever agreed, you will be able to stay focused on the task in hand that you are doing at the moment.