Everyone I know these days is busy. They put in long hours at work running from one meeting to another, writing reports, engaging in internal and customer-facing work. There isn’t much downtime. Yet, all that busy-ness doesn’t necessarily equate to production.
Often, you do the next thing in front of you without thinking about the costs associated with the work. Every time you engage in a task, it has a real cost to it. There is the amount of money that the company is paying for your time plus whatever other resources you eat up by doing the work. (In this age of AI, the cost of tokens you use in doing your work can add up in a hurry.) There are also the opportunity costs—the extent to which a particular task you’re doing crowds out other things you could have done with that time.
What can you do to ensure that you stay focused on the things you should be doing and are most effective at saying no to the tasks that should not be on your plate?
Start with the cost-benefit analysis
Up front, it is important to be clear about the real cost of doing something that feels like a waste of time as well as the potential benefits of doing the work. Make a realistic assessment of the amount of time the task will take so that you can highlight what it is costing your firm to have you do that work. You should also be clear on what will not get done if you take on that task.
Before you say no, though, also consider the benefits of doing the task. Something that might feel like a waste of time might make a client or customer feel better about the work you do for them in ways that will pay off down the line. Doing a particular job might get you noticed by someone else in your organization in a positive way that might benefit you later. So, don’t just focus on the costs.
If the job truly seems like a waste, though, start with a quick chat with the person who asked you to do the job. Lay out the costs as you see them as well as the benefits. Before adamantly refusing to do the task, ask what you’re missing. It may be that there is a hidden benefit to the job you hadn’t considered. You don’t want to beg off a task that actually could benefit you or the company in significant ways.
What is the alternative?
As you consider whether to say no, think a bit about the alternative. Is this task one that someone is going to have to do? If you don’t do it, who will? Is there someone else who can do it?
This question can sometimes make it easier to say no to something. If you’re a reasonably high-priced employee and you’re asked to do a mundane job, it may make a lot more sense for someone who makes less money to take it on (even with your oversight) to match the cost of doing the job to the value of the work. That can be a convincing argument for saying no.
Part of this calculus should also be a discussion about whether the task needs to be done at all. Often, there are things people are asked to do because a particular process has always been done in a particular way. That doesn’t mean it has to be done that way. It may be that there are ways to streamline a workflow without diminishing the quality of the work. Tasks that seem like a waste of time are potential candidates to trim.
Allow your value to be seen
People high in the personality characteristic of agreeableness often take on whatever task they’re given. They do so because they don’t want to create a confrontation with whoever made the request. In the moment, that maintains harmony in the relationship. This point is particularly important, because women tend to be more agreeable on average than men, so women may end up shouldering more of the burden of low-value work than men.
Unfortunately, over time there is a potential negative consequence of agreeing to do simple tasks. If you end up as the go-to person to take on routine jobs, you may be seen by others as a workhorse who doesn’t necessarily shine in important situations. That can limit your opportunities for promotion and keep you from being given plum assignments.
Saying no to tasks that are a waste of your time can be difficult, particularly if you are highly agreeable. Standing up for the value of your time will make that value visible to the rest of your team. When you say no, you are forcing others to recognize that your knowledge and skills are too valuable to be spent on tasks that someone else could be doing. The benefits of protecting your time are worth the short-term discomfort of saying no.