Give up Future Opportunities That You Wouldn’t Do Right Now.
New opportunities open up to all of us every day. Sometimes it can be difficult to choose which of these possibilities to say yes. However, giving up on what’s going on is an important part of being successful. We cannot do everything.
Inc this week posted some tips from Wired founder Kevin Kelly on when to say no, affectionately dubbed the “spontaneity filter.”
“One of the most helpful pieces of advice I’ve ever received came from writer Anna Herbert, who said that whenever she received an invitation to do something months or even a week in advance, she asked herself if she would accept a concert. / meeting / task, if it were tomorrow. The answer was often no. I use this spontaneity trick all the time and it came in handy. “
The idea behind this trick is pretty simple: In general, we all value what we have right now, not what happens in a week or a month. For example, you would probably prefer a chocolate chip cookie right now than waiting two weeks for me to hand it over.
Conversely, speaking at your friend’s community meeting next month may seem like a good opportunity, but if you think about it happening tomorrow, you can understand that this will be something that you will be afraid to do instead.
While in theory many things might seem like a “good” idea that you would like to answer “yes” to, if you’re not thrilled to do the same tomorrow, you might be better off saying “no”.
Obviously this won’t work for everyone. There are good opportunities, but not entirely exciting ones. However, pondering how you would feel about this opportunity if it were more immediate can help you put it in perspective and decide if you want to ultimately pursue it.