It’s time to question our assumptions around saying no. Saying no isn’t bad; it’s often the right thing to do. It lets us provide better care when we do say yes, and it can force systems to address underlying problems instead of relying on individuals to constantly overextend themselves.
Breaking free from this mindset asks us to check in with ourselves about our actual capacity, to question our assumptions, to examine how our belief that we must say yes affects us physically and mentally, and to imagine who we would be without this belief.
And we need to do the hard work of learning to tolerate the discomfort of potentially disappointing others.
When we constantly say yes beyond our capacity, we risk making poorer clinical decisions, missing important details, and modelling unhealthy behaviour for colleagues. Quality of care suffers when it’s delivered by depleted, burnt-out professionals who can’t think clearly.
This discussion with Corrina Gordon-Barnes offers an opportunity for us to ask whether saying no could actually lead to better outcomes for everyone involved, including yourself.
