We are so caught up in life’s struggles that we do not seem to realize how many times we end up doing things that we would not have done only if we had the luxury of a second thought. The other thing is that we seem to be under the illusion that every life situation is an “Yes’ or ‘No’ situation. The fact is: it is not. We just imagine it is, and pay the price for this misplaced belief.
If you are a born people-pleaser, your toughest job on earth is to refuse something—saying ‘No’ to a person or a situation. You may not realise this, but the moment you learn to say ‘No’ to people or situations that you would rather avoid, it brings immense power to you.
The irony is that many of us do not know how to say ‘No’ to a person or a given situation and a pay a heavy price for not knowing that.
I do agree that there may be some intricate situations when you may be ill-advised to say ‘No.’ For instance, if that offer comes straight from the ‘Godfather’ himself. And, if that offer is loaded with the Godfather’s own favourite one-liner: “I will make you and offer that you cannot refuse…” Only an idiot would refuse such an offer and stake all in the process.
But, other than that, if you are smart enough to say ‘No’ to persons and situations particularly when you have to do that against your wishes, there’s nothing like acquiring this very learnable talent of saying ‘No.’ You may be surprised to hear this. But, many a time, we fail to say ‘No’ just because we fail to find the right words to say ‘No.’ Obviously, we don’t want to say ‘No’ because we do not wish to offend somebody by refusing to do something outright.
If that is the case, here are dozens of ready-made sentences that could bail you out of sticky situations without hurting the feelings of the person or situation you are dealing with.
There are situations where you want to say ‘No’ with finality and resolve because you are clear in your mind that you don’t want to do that at any cost. In such cases, you may want to simply blurt out a blunt ‘No’ which conveys your response with clarity that a sugar-coated sentence may fail to convey.
If not, here are a few readymade sentences that could do the job for you particularly when the other party is in a hurry to get the job done:
I’m too tied up to do anything about it right now.
I would love to help, but I am swamped.
Sorry, but I am unable to squeeze in this into my schedule.
My hands are already full.
I don’t think that will work for me.
I am sure you will find someone who could do this better than me.
Thanks, but—no thanks.
Thanks for your request but I don’t think this is going to work out.
I know how important this is for you, so, I don’t want to keep you in suspense. It’s a ‘No’ from me.
I don’t think that is something doable for me.
I wish I could do that for you.
I am unable to get involved personally, but I could help you find a solution
How’s that for a ‘No.?’ If your brain is loaded with such Ammo and you have a reliable tongue for a trigger, you can pull it off each time and that too with the right amount of punch you need to deal with such tricky situations. Mug up some of these one-liners or create your own one-liners. Just give it a try and you will never be disappointed!
Why should you say ‘Yes’ when you can say ‘No’? Enjoy the power of being able to say ‘No’ to this mean world!
