Last week, working with such an inspiring bunch of PhD students, I found myself practicing ‘saying no’ with these wonderful scholars: “Let’s just practice saying ‘No’. One, two, three: ‘No.’ One, two, three: ‘No’. One more time, one, two…, three… ‘No!'” Their faces lit up. Saying ‘No!’, very obviously, was fun. We said it loud and proud and with such joy. And let’s face it. The importance of knowing how to say ‘no’ cannot be overstated in an academic career.
Continue reading “On Saying ‘No’: the Art and Magic of Declining”
