It's interesting how many people I come across in my job who have a problem saying 'no'. It tends to be a big factor in work/life balance factors - saying 'no' to one more drink or an extra assignment at work could both have a remarkable effect on quality of life.

So if you find yourself doing too many things that you don't really want to be doing and you don't really know how to say no, what's the answer? I recently gave a client who virtually never said 'no' a baby-steps strategy. She had to say 'no' to a request just once every day (in her case it work related). I got her to model her delivery on someone she knows who has absolutely no problem in saying 'no'.

After three short weeks her work load is much more manageable. All down to one little word.