Learning to Say No- Advice from Hazel Walker the “Queen of Networking” 

Over committing to others is one of the top challenges for women. We are reluctant to say no to family and friends. They know this, so they keep asking because we keep doing. All the while not getting our own goals met, neglecting our own health and wellbeing and all the while building up resentment and anxiety.  

On top of that, we do not ask others to help us when we need it thereby allowing more resentment to build while we have less and less time to accomplish any of our own personal goals in our lives and in our businesses.   

We know that building a strong business network is key to having the most success in life and in business. Building a strong network requires two things, time, and education, with the key requirement being time. It takes time to invest in our education as well as investing in the relationships that make up our strongest network.  
 
Time is something that we never have enough of, as a woman we are constantly busy. Taking care of children, husband, and parents. We volunteer, we work full-time jobs, we take on projects for our bosses, we work overtime, we shop for the family, run a taxi service for our children and on and on and on. Our time is precious so why do we give our time up so easily?  

Money can be made, but time is gone forever. As women, we undervalue our time and give it away too freely.  

This week, take the time to list all of your activities, how are they serving you? How are you serving them? Which of them do you need to give up? Where in your life, are you doing things out of a sense of duty versus a passion for the activity? Where in your life are you not really giving 100%? 

How often in all of those activities are you investing in your future? 
 
When you do that, you will know what you need to give up and what you should say No to. If you want to achieve a life worth living it has to be one that honours you, one that is connected to others, and one that you love, not resent.  

 

Excerpt from “The Heel to Toe of Networking” for more information download our book https://bih.activehosted.com/f/2310