Saying NO to jobs is a weird thing. It's not something you're supposed to do, no one tells you to turn away work, if you're mum knew she wouldn't be happy but sorry mum its the only way to go.

Back in the day I'd never turn down work, up until recently I wouldn't turn down work either, I'd take on anything and everything if the folks in power accepted the quote. I was busy and all was well but I was too busy, too busy for anything else other than work. Maybe it was remembering the skint times when there was 32 pence in the bank and you're wondering how you'd eat until you got another job in, maybe it was because everyone always tells you to be busy. Someone would ask "you keeping busy" the reply along the lines of "too busy" or "not enough hours in the day man" then they'd come back with "Thats a good complaint to have". I get all that but I think there's a sweet spot to get to where you're not doing 16 hour days, you can have a day or two off and spend time with the kids. From experience, when you work more, say yes to every job and become SUPER busy, thats all you are, busy, on occasion you'll make more moola but the majority of the time you're just churning out work to get through it with no real difference in the money you bring in. And the main thing is that it's not a life. Time moves too fast when you're super busy, time moving too fast isn't a good thing, you want time to go slow, really slow.

So the only option is to turn down work, say NO to work. What it does is it lets you decide what work you take on, you take on work based on what you'll enjoy and not based on the financial gain. I know that everyone has to pay the bills but bills still get paid, work still comes in. Life becomes slower because you have time to take it easy. It's better all round. And you can smile more because you're not too busy working and forget to smile. See below for an example:

This is me smiling after saying NO to work :)

It's just another observation that I've made while working for myself and wondering whats the best move to get where I'm going. I think choosing work that you'll enjoy is the way to do it. Dont just choose a job for the money because it never works out to be as less hassle and as much money as you think. I also think only working on one project at a time is another good idea. Most of the time I'll work between 2 or 3 jobs at the same time. It works because you glue up one thing and then it sits n clamps for a day, while it's drying I can either do nothing or work on something else. Turning down work is a start, then I'll get it down to just working on one thing at a time.

Baby steps, turn down a job here and there, jobs that aren't really your thing then it frees you up to be able to take on the jobs that suit you.

This is not life advice, just an observation and ramble from a guy who makes things out of wood up in the country. Do what you want.

Over