Every yes you give away is an hour of your life with someone else’s name on it.

Agreeing feels free at the moment you do it, because the cost arrives later on a day that is not yet real to you. Every commitment is a booking against a specific hour, and that hour then belongs to whoever asked. Most overload is not one big mistake, it is a pile of small agreeable moments.

Before you answer next time, picture the actual afternoon it will take. If you would not clear that afternoon for it today, be honest now rather than resentful later. A slow yes is kinder to everyone than a fast one you take back.