Every yes costs a no somewhere else. Know what you’re trading before you agree.

Time is the one budget with no overdraft, so agreeing to something automatically removes it from something else. The trade is invisible because the thing you gave up never shows up to complain. Saying yes feels generous now and expensive three weeks later, when the calendar arrives.

Before agreeing to anything that takes real hours, name out loud what it is coming out of. If you cannot say what you are dropping, you have not actually decided yet. Saying you will check and get back to them buys you a day.