November; are you ready?

We’re all used now to various ‘variations’ to the months of the year that have been developed by marketing teams. I’m thinking of ‘Stop-tober’ and ‘Veganuary’ as the primary examples, but have one for you that seems to drop into my inbox at this time every year, and is actually welcome!

‘No-vember’ can be a really great reminder that we need to be discerning, or we’ll disappear under an ever-increasing number of tasks, appointments and commitments.

The premise behind ‘No-vember’ is blissfully simple, and is that you start to say ‘no’ more often.

You don’t have to justify the ‘no’, you don’t have to apologise, or feel bad, just say ‘no’. If your gut doesn’t say a definite ‘yes’ to a request, suggestion, or possibility, it’s telling you that your response should be ‘no’.

As we head into our busy season, of accounts filing deadlines and the tax return and admin madness of January, for us ‘No-vember’ is a really good reminder that we only have a limited amount of time every day, so we need to be careful where we allocate it.

If we give our time to X, we can’t give it to Y.

The ‘problem’ with business owners, is that we see an opportunity and want to take it, and soon we’re drowning!

Too many times saying ‘yes’ can cause us a real headache, given that the agreement is usually given well before the need to execute, and often the due dates then coincide to leave us overcommitted and shattered at the end of the day!

We now try to keep ‘No-vember’ firmly in the forefront of our minds, so we can have more energy and a (slightly) clearer diary as we head towards December and January each year.

You may find that ‘No-vember’ is helpful even in your life outside work, as more and more events start to appear in your diary as the festive season gathers pace. Streamlining your social calendar for the end of the year may help you achieve your business goals for the year, if you haven’t already.

Alternatively, you may find that keeping ‘No-vember’ in mind for your business allows you more time to plan and enjoy the forthcoming festivities with family and friends.

We’d strongly recommend that you try using ‘no’ more this ‘No-vember’, and would be very interested to hear how you get on as a result!