For most of my life, I believed in always saying yes. Yes to attending events, yes to meeting new people, yes to other people’s suggestions. By casting a wider net you get to explore more options, and you never know what you might discover when you say yes to something new.
But recently, I’ve started to reevaluate how I’m spending my time. I think saying yes is good at the start, when you’re exploring many things and don’t have clarity on what you’re looking for. But as you gain that clarity, it becomes more and more valuable to say no instead.
More often than not, people have incentives for you to do something that aren’t necessarily aligned with your own. Maybe they’re referring you to a startup because they invested in it. Maybe they’re inviting you to an event because they want to recruit you. These incentives aren’t intrinsically bad, but remember that people are most commonly acting out of their own best interest, not yours.
You are not obligated to give anyone your time. By saying no to what’s less interesting or important to you, you free up time to focus on what is. Focus is key: it’s very difficult to become great as a jack of all trades. Be ruthless with your time, since it’s your most valuable resource, and be intentional about who you give it to.