The Art of Persuasion (Collection)

Learn to Say No

You’ll struggle getting people to say yes to you if you can’t say no to other people. Doesn’t sound fair, does it? But you don’t necessarily have to say no to the same people you want a yes from. The point is that often what you want requires time. That’s a commodity that’s hard to come by if you can’t say no. Or maybe you need a peaceful life (don’t we all), perhaps because you’re under particular stress at the moment, and you really don’t want anything difficult or complicated dumped in your lap.

You know that expression, “If you want something done, ask someone who’s busy?” That partly works because the people who are busiest are usually the worst at saying no, so they’ll always say yes to you. Listen carefully: You don’t want ...