Note · June 2, 2026
If you cannot say no, at least learn to say “give me a hundred years, I will come back to you.”
It is the same answer in practice. It is gentler in form. It buys you time to think and it tells the other person that you are not going to default to yes just because you cannot find the energy to say no.
I have used this formulation on more requests than I am comfortable admitting. It works.
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