4 Things To Say No To in Your Career

Setting Boundaries early is the key to happiness in the workplace

When we start a new job, a new position, or a new manager joins our team, there is always the feeling that we need to impress them. This can be a good thing. It is sometimes healthy to up your game and have a reason to go above and beyond to increase your performance at work.

But I, like many others, have overdone this at times. I have been guilty of working later than I should have and putting my social life on hold just to get a piece of work over the line. Feeling drained and burned out daily as I attend back-to-back meetings that I feel like I shouldn’t even be on. Most can relate to this, particularly people very new into their career who think all requests should be immediately answered.

But let me tell you something, doing more was never worth it! Going above and beyond was rarely appreciated. Failing to set boundaries with my bosses and key stakeholders was like digging my own grave at times. Being a yes man, at times can be a good thing. But not necessarily in the workplace.

Here are 4 things you should say no to in order to take back control, avoid unnecessary burnout, and in general have a better experience at work.

1.Pointless Meetings

If you work in a corporate environment, you know exactly what I am talking about. The sheer volume of pointless meetings I have sat on over the years is crazy. I am not talking about meetings with your team about what you are working on, getting assigned work, and discussing upcoming deadlines.

The pointless meetings are the ones where there are 30 people on a call when it should be a catchup up between 3 people. The other people don’t have anything to contribute as it is not a project they have been involved in. So there are 27 people basically not working and getting nothing out of it. Their only real involvement is saying “thanks, everyone” at the end of the meeting. But “thanks, everyone” couldn’t be further from the truth. “Thanks, no one” for wasting everyone’s time would be much more fitting.

Ask your manager if you can just get on with work and if there is anything that affects you personally to let you know. You may have to ensure you justify what you will be working on in the meantime, but trust me, it will be worth it in the long run.

2. Unscheduled calls

Some colleagues get into the habit of calling you whenever they want. This can really disrupt your flow and distract you from getting urgent tasks done. Even if it is just a short 10-minute call, you will lose much more time than this. You will lose all momentum with the tasks you were doing previously, and it will often take much longer than 10 minutes to get back into the flow of things.

Your time is yours to protect. Set out your calendar to suit you. Sure, there will be certain meetings that you can’t say no to, but in my experience there really shouldn’t be that many within a given week. If someone you don’t really work with requests a meeting to discuss a task, ask them to send you a meeting with the key points and see if you can answer through email. Even if they still want to have a call, you will have strict agenda. This will cut out all the waffling that typically goes on with these unsolicited requests.

3. Overtime

Don’t make a habit of staying late. It will rarely be appreciated but will become expected. I have seen this time and time again. If you do it once or twice, people will just get used to you doing it. And then if you don’t do it, it may even cause a bit of controversy. No one needs that.

I have worked internationally for companies in the US from the UK. In the US it is often accepted that they will work later. Balancing this with the fact that there is a 5-hour time difference, I had to say early that I was not willing to work late. Anything I missed, I would pick up in the morning. My manager respected this and would even say if meetings were running late that I would need to drop off the call as it was out of office time.

Say no to overtime, unless it is paid overtime. If your company expects you to do overtime regularly, find a company and manager who respect you.

4. Unreasonable requests from senior employees

At times, you will get requests from really senior people that you know full well do not sit with you or your team. They often will send this request with an expectation that you will prioritize this bit of work, just because it was sent from them. No chance.

Seriously, I have had members of leadership come to me because they heard I was good at excel and analytical skills that they could utilize. At the same time, I was spinning so many different plates. Of course, if you are not that busy, it’s ok to help people out. But also express how you have a lot coming up so may not be able to do it every time. I have got to a position now where if I am busy I don’t even feel bad about flat out declining, whoever it comes from. I have done these ad-hoc requests from senior members in the past and got zero credit for it so now I’m like no thanks. I’m not your guy.

Unfortunately, the corporate world is one big game, where proving to everyone that you are willing to stay late and go out of your way to provide value to senior members of the staff is almost the expectation.

This can lead to long hours, burnout, and at times pure misery at work that can also affect everyday life. Do not stand for this. Get a company and manager that will support you and understand that you are not willing to attend pointless meetings and value your time and life out of work. If they don’t get it, start dusting off that resume. Lifes too short.