WHEN I work with my coaching clients on time management, one of the things we focus on is saying NO.

It often takes a bit of courage to say NO to requests that will overburden us and stop us being productive.

And sometimes we need to say NO to ourselves to avoid spending a couple of hours mindlessly slumped in front of the TV of an evening when a brisk walk and an early night is actually what the body craves.

As ever though, for any rule there is an opposite truth, and there are some circumstances where I'd encourage you to say a loud resounding YES. Let me give you an example. Yesterday I was approached by our local radio station with a very unusual request (top secret for now I am afraid). It was not an area that I had direct expertise in and I was very busy with something else at the time of the call.

So logic would have said that my best response would be a graceful NO –sorry I can’t help. I’ve had enough experience of synchronicity, however to know that nothing comes totally out of the blue and there is usually a reason.

For me, when I get a slight tingle of interest of curiosity about something, I know that I need to say YES – at least in part. So I said I would make a couple of calls to my contacts.I did that and as a result I succeeded in re-connecting with three people who, it turns out, can help me very directly with some key issues that are going on for me right now. I doubt if I would have had that opportunity at exactly the time I needed it if I hadn’t first said YES to something seemingly unrelated.

So I’m not suggesting you throw out the discipline of saying NO to the distractions, the urge to please people, or the time and energy drainers that are offered to you. I am suggesting that you listen out for your reactions to those odd, left field kind of requests that somehow just intrigue you. If you get that feeling that you are somehow meant to, then say YES and see where it takes you. It may well be exactly where you want to go.