upbeat.it

by Cesare Rocchi

Saying No

by Cesare Rocchi

Tags: life
  • Would you speak at our conference?
  • Can I pick your brain about this?
  • Dinner out?
  • We booked a chalet for the next weekend. Feel like skying?

Saying no is hard. It really is to me.

I don’t particularly love packing my luggage and take a plane. But I am willing to do it if I know I am gonna meet somebody interesting when I land.

Taking some time off to listen to somebody’s idea is not my best hobby. But when I spot that struggle, pretty much the same struggle that I had when I started, I am prone to say yes.

I love dinners, even with strangers, met a few hours before at a conference. We chat, we get acquainted, we build a relationship.

I like snow. The smell of it, the noise of the board that cuts it, when a friend of mine is sliding down the same slope, right besides me.

I had to say no. To all of that. It’s not easy. It bites me. But I am laser focused on my goals. And so I have to say no. Even if it bites. Saying no is one of the few ways that I know to make time.

It reminds me a bit of the times when I was a student. I had to say no to some parties, thrown the night before an exam. In hindsight, I didn’t miss anything, but at the time I felt like I missed everything.

I am slowly learning that no is not a bad word. It’s just one way to declare what’s important to you at the moment. And at the moment I am laser focused on my services: AppVersion and Podrover.