One of the bosses of my company came to me today and hinted subtly if I could take on some work left by my manager since he is outstation. I said "No, I really have a lot on my hands right now."

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I hate him/her or what.. He/She's really quite a nice person and the usual me will just be like "errrr... ok no problem, when do you need it?". But I am really preparing a lot of stuff for an upcoming business trip. The point I am trying to put across is, how many times will you say no, be it out of fear for being perceived as unhelpful, not sociable, always trying to slack etc.

People tend to fear that they are never good enough, which is one of the '7 bad habits that hold good people back' (I read this from the same titled book). They want to impress and do all they can. They want to be viewed as an efficient multi-tasker who can be relied upon and want everybody to like them. The fact is, no one really bothers about such things. They are just relieved when someone takes charge of some work. I'm not encouraging anyone to push away work here but if you are handling more than you can, your effectiveness and efficiency at other more important work suffers... Does this really mean you are an efficient multi-tasker who can be relied on to submit high quality projects?

You will most probably invite a lot of exploiters who know you are too weak to refuse a job. Take on only what you can manage at that time and what you think will greatly contribute to your key performance indicators. Of course lending a helping hand to others at times when you are available is an excellent way to understand how everything works around as well. The main thing here is balance.

I am still learning the way out here but saying "no" feels good at times. Saying it once does not warrant me to be a guru and start some self help topic here but I have been learning and gaining more experience when it comes to work relations day after day.

FACT: You cannot please everybody, but at least, don't piss yourself off trying to please others.