Every commitment spends time you can no longer offer somewhere else.

Time is the one resource you cannot borrow against, so every yes is also a silent no to something unnamed. The trouble is that the cost is invisible at the moment of agreeing. You feel the appeal of the new thing clearly and feel nothing at all for the evenings, the projects, and the people it will quietly displace.

Before accepting something, try naming what it will take the hours from. Say it specifically, this many evenings, this project delayed. If you still want it, take it with your eyes open. If naming it makes you hesitate, that hesitation is worth listening to.