I was really intrigued when I heard about David Sparks’s “no journal”. In his words:

Every time you find yourself having to say no because of how many commitments you have, write it down. I started doing that and looking at the things I was saying no to… and then weighing those against the things I was saying yes to.

It was his own clever MacSparkian way of staying focused on the creation of his latest book, iPad at Work.

Honestly, I don’t think I could ever keep up with a no journal because I usually fail at any kind of regimented journaling.

I’ve learned that saying no is extremely important, though. And it only gets more important (and harder) the more successful and productive you become.

The more you accomplish, the more you prove to yourself and the world that you can do anything. And you can… do anything.

But you can’t do everything. No is about constructively doing less.

No also gets easier to say once you realize that no is only negative on the surface. Underneath it's powerfully affirmative. Saying no means repeatedly saying yes—to the things you've decided matter more.

Yes feels really, really good.