Chief Takeaways
- Your capacity is the place you get to when you realize that there’s not one more thing you can do without things starting to fall apart.
- Figure out where your capacity is, commit to honoring it and to saying no to any more than that.
- Once you get used to honoring your capacity, create an even higher standard for yourself and back away from your capacity even more. It gives you a reserve of time and space.
- Avoid disappointing a client by being afraid to disappoint the client. Always tell your truth.
- There’s always tomorrow to get stuff done that didn’t happen today. And if tomorrow doesn’t come, then it won’t matter to anyone that there were things you didn’t do yesterday.
- When you don’t sacrifice yourself for someone else, you model a way of being in the world. We need more people who can model this.
- Say no more often (or at least, say “not today, but I can do it for you Thursday at 11a”), stop ahead of reaching capacity. Put yourself first so you can do a better job for others.
- Make only explicit agreements
- The most important word to know is “capacity.”
- Bonus tip: Buy the book. Do the work.
- And remind yourself of this: Reaching an over is always an act of martyring myself.
Resources
- The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do (A No F*cks Given Guide), by Sarah Knight (yes; this is an affiliate link. All affiliate commissions we earn go to supporting charities that benefit at-risk women and kids in the US. Learn more about who we’re supporting this year.)
Please consider joining us for our monthly Facebook Live gathering. It happens on our Facebook page the second Thursday of each month at 11am, ET, unless otherwise noted. We’d love to see you there! And invite a friend—learning is always more fun with friends!