“Just Say No” Is Bad Productivity Advice-Nir&Far

07/12/21 • 5 min

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Nir And Far: Business, Behaviour and the Brain

Try schedule-syncing instead.

You’ve probably read this advice before: “The best thing you can do for your productivity is to say no more often.” By freeing yourself from unnecessary tasks, the thinking goes, you can spend more time working on the things that really matter.

At first blush, this sounds smart. Many things people ask of you aren’t really necessary or can be accomplished more efficiently by someone else. But in practice, this advice often backfires.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: “Just Say No” Is Bad Productivity Advice https://www.nirandfar.com/productivity-and-saying-no/

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Try schedule-syncing instead.

At first blush, this sounds smart. Many things people ask of you aren’t really necessary or can be accomplished more efficiently by someone else. But in practice, this advice often backfires.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: “Just Say No” Is Bad Productivity Advice https://www.nirandfar.com/productivity-and-saying-no/

Previous Episode

The New York Times Uses the Very Dark Patterns it Derides-NIr&Far

‘Dark patterns’ aren’t always malicious mind control. They’re often a symptom of disjointed company culture. Will the Times change?’

A recent New York Times op-ed, titled “Stopping the Manipulation Machines,” derided the use of dark patterns: design tricks that push people to do things online by confusing or deliberately inconveniencing them.

Kudos to the writer, Greg Bensinger, a member of the Times’ editorial board, who does a laudable job calling out obnoxious dark patterns.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: The New York Times Uses the Very Dark Patterns it Derides https://www.nirandfar.com/cancel-new-york-times/

Next Episode

The Influencers Dinner: An Interview with Jon Levy-Nir&Far

Nir’s Note: What do Bill Nye, break dancer Crazy Legs, cyber illusionist Marco Tempest, and economist Nouriel Roubini have in common? They’ve all been guests at a little-known “Influencers dinner” regularly hosted by behavioral scientist Jon Levy at his New York apartment. Jon is the author of You’re Invited: the Art and Science of Cultivating Influence, a New York Times bestseller about the value of creating meaningful connections and building trust with the people that can most influence your life. Jon’s dinner parties and his decade-old club of “Influencers” have been featured in Forbes and Business Insider.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: The Influencers Dinner: An Interview with Jon Levy https://www.nirandfar.com/influencers-dinner-jon-levy