When to say 'yes' or 'no' to a new commitment
Ideothetic Flow
Hi everyone!
There is often conflicting advice these days, between rejecting as much as possible to focus on deep work, and accepting every new opportunity, project, or networking event that comes your way. While each approach has benefits, to take either to the extreme would not be healthy. Yet, there is little advice about when we should adopt either approach.
Ask yourself these questions before you say yes or no to anything - Lisa Evans, Fast Company takes a simple yet nuanced look at both positions, and offers some questions to guide these decisions.
I particularly like the context-sensitive suggestion to agree more when starting new phases, and turn down more activities once we have clarity of purpose. The article also asks us to reflect and define our own weaknesses - whether we over-commit out of a desire to please, or over-reject out of our own fears or insecurities.
Coincidentally, an opportunity to expand my portfolio came to me at work recently. I was left having to decide whether I would want to keep my life as it is, or accept this change.
This was quite a difficult decision for me since I felt like I have finally reached a stable point at work. I am familiar with my subject matter and stakeholders, and have decent hours. Accepting a portfolio change invariably means more work - as everyone knows, old tasks never really go away - which I was not sure if I could balance with all my other commitments. The benefits were also uncertain, any tangible benefits (if at all) would only come about in the next increment/promotion cycle almost a year later, while intangible benefits may not truly accrue.
Change is accompanied by fear. I was afraid that I would not be able to handle the new work well. I know I lack the capacity (nor desire) to put in more hours at work, and am afraid that accepting this will force me to work later or deal with more issues outside office hours. I worry that if I did badly, this would end up hurting my career rather than advancing it.
I put the same advice in this article to my own circumstances. I am still in an early stage of my career, so I should be more inclined to agree to this. Also, there was an element of fear in my assessment, and this article helped me to recognise and adjust for it. I then had more clarity to understand the remaining costs and benefits.
At the end, I accepted this additional portfolio. Thus far, I have been quite lucky with my workplaces and working hours, so hopefully I have also been doing something right to manage this well. So I decided to put this to the test and see if I can take on more without sacrificing my personal commitments.
Hope you have a great week ahead!
James
ABOUT
Ideothetic Flow is a fortnightly newsletter where I reflect on insights that I have found useful in rethinking life in a more realistic way.
Modern culture, media, and technology, for all their benefits, have distorted the view of a complete and happy life. The ideas I share are those which have helped me gain a deeper understanding of my own identity and circumstances, and inspire change towards a happier life, and I hope they will do the same for anyone else who reads this.
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