It’s easy to be guilted into saying yes.

As a salesperson, being liked by your customers is part of the job.

So you go out of your way.

You do favors.

You bring lunch to the store.

You say yes to an in-store tasting on Memorial Day weekend.

You say yes to another in-store tasting on the next weekend.

You patronize the restaurant (“Oh hey! I just happened to be sitting here at your bar spending a bunch of money! Great to see you! I didn’t know you were working tonight!” … yeah, right.)

All that is well and good. But the problem is when your actions cost time (the one resource you cannot expand, grow, or manipulate) that should be used instead for personal development, family time, going to the gym, being with friends, or just finding balance.

So here’s a hint: write down your Grand Plan.

Your Grand Plan is made up of bigger goals. Your moonshot. The point you want or need to be at five years from now. This is the serious stuff in your life that you need to focus on achieving.

Maybe it’s financial. You’re in debt and need to pay off the credit cards.

Maybe it’s health. You really need to drop twenty pounds.

Maybe it’s your kids. They are struggling in school and you need to be home more to help them.

Whatever the Grand Plan is, you have to report to it. And every choice you make has to be made with the Grand Plan in mind. If you have a Grand Plan, it puts priority on a pause before saying yes to yet another in-store tasting, or another staff training, or running the random will call to the customer that always needs yet another will call.

Does running that will call help your Grand Plan? Maybe. Maybe not.

Does doing another in-store tasting for a C-level retailer respect your Grand Plan? Maybe. Maybe not.

Does taking on more for the sake of taking on more, being busy so you can justify your time and job, respect your Grand Plan? Probably not.

Figure out your Grand Plan. What do you really need in your life? Then start figuring how to say no to things that distract you. Shiny objects and the dopamine drip of ‘yes’ won’t help you lose those 20 pounds.