I would go through phases of life where I would be worn down and over committed getting everything done for everyone else.
Taking a look at what had gotten me into several concurrent full time projects with little to no time for my own, I saw that I was a dumping ground for other people's projects.
If people are time wasters there is a 99% chance that they do not want to be alone when they waste time and drag as many people as they can to the swirling vortex of time wasting so they don't get bored.
I had to put an end to others controlling my time and took back control by changing my "Default Setting" to NO.
Now that I am saying NO as my default response I find that the time wasters and "boredom buddies" have disappeared and are targeting others who's default is still set to YES.
I still am involved in the projects I want to be involved in but don't feel obligated to be a "Yes Man" for every acquaintance or whim of a friend.
Making people justify your spending of your time on their projects makes them re-evaluate whether or not they should even pursue the project in the first place.
Just Say NO!
I've come to the point where I say, "I'll call you back with an answer." Then I have time to think about it. It's becoming more and more a no, but sometimes it is something that I really want to do, however I don't do it without some thought and a bit of 'counting the cost' first, as in - how much time is it going to take.
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