5 Tips to Say no Without Feeling Guilty

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If you can never say no to someone just because you feel guilty while doing it, people can take advantage of you being so nice. Avoid such situations and learn how to say no without feeling guilty.

1. Always remind yourself that you cannot be nice to everyone

Sometimes the major reason for feeling guilty when you say no to someone is because you try to be nice to everyone around you. Always remind yourself that it is impossible for you to be nice to everyone. Narrow down the special few people who you must be nice to, whether it is your boss, your partner or your family. While saying no to anyone other than these special people, you should not feel guilty.

2. Think of the times when people have said no to you

Do you feel guilty to say no just because you don’t like refusing someone’s request? Then think about all the times when people have turned you down and said no to you. This will re-confirm the fact that if everyone can say no to you, the same applies to you as well. There should be no reason why you should feel bad about saying no to someone because it is likely that the same person will say no to you sooner or later.

3. Don’t feel obliged to give reasoning along with your refusal

If you feel guilty when you say no, you are likely to give many reasons and excuses when you are refusing someone’s request. You must stop doing that if you want to remain guilt-free. Everyone has their own reasons for saying no and there is no need for excuses to be given all the time. Keep this in mind and hold yourself back whenever you feel unnecessarily obliged to give excuses while saying no to someone.

4. Prepare to say no

If you are not in the habit of saying no, you may feel awkward for the first few times. You can deal with this by going over the situation in your head before you actually do it. For example, if you are about to say no to a friend who has asked if he can borrow your car, enact a dialogue situation in your head before you meet him. Think of how you will say no and think about how your friend will react. This will help you to be prepared and find better answers to any questions that he may have.

5. Have logic behind saying no

Certain situations demand that you have logic and reasoning behind saying no to someone. For example, you need a valid reason to say no to your boss or colleagues at the workplace. You can’t say no to your boss when he decides to allocate a task to you just because you don’t feel like doing it. You need to back it up with a valid reason and tell him that you won’t do it because you already have your hands full with another project that he had assigned to you. In similar situations, you will never feel guilty if you have a valid reason to say no.