Say No

a useful skill, or a crutch? ItDepends.

a key part of having Focus is to Say No.

• or at least Why The Fuck...?
• make those No's explicit in your not-to-do list

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2012-06-14/

on the other hand, Fuck Yes is a pretty good battle cry

• see also Yes, And

interpreting various ways an Engineer might Say No.

David Schmaltz notes (in a not-yet-published book) that to Say No to an uncertain/unrealistic Commitment can be simply a way of moving toward a Dialogue, moving from a Finite Game to the Infinite Game.

• what is the Simplest Thing you could do?

Andy Swan suggests: If the premise is “or”, change it to “and”. If the premise is “and”, change it to “or”.