How to say “No” politely?

Before getting into the topic, ask yourself certain questions: Are you a people pleaser? Do you feel that you are being taken for granted soon after you said ‘yes’? Pretty sure that you may have faced this experience too that you ended up saying ‘yes’ when you wanted to say ‘no’. This is the dilemma that most of the people face who fail to get their priorities right.

It's human nature that under some circumstances you agree to do something though you really don’t want to do it. But on the other hand, you also want to be perceived as a kind, well-mannered and agreeable person.

Saying ‘no’ sometimes can be hard and the most difficult thing because you don’t want to upset people intentionally. You might get worried about how people will be going to react to it or what they will think about you. However, saying ‘no’ can sometimes be the kindest and the best thing you can do!

Keep this thing in your mind that your time is extremely valuable and precious. So, learn to guard it or save it for the things you really want to do on priority. When you learn to say ‘no’ to all those things that you really don’t want to do, then you are giving freedom to yourself to embrace new opportunities or to spend your time doing something that really makes you happy.

In your daily life, you experience most of the people like your colleagues, close relatives or some neighbors who wanted to ask for your favor or help, but you can’t reach out to those people due to your own certain issues. So, instead of saying ‘No’ rudely to the person, you can use some of the most affecting, kind, generous and polite ways of saying ‘No’ to them.

So, today’s topic is about what are some ways through which we can say ‘No’ politely. Make sure that you are using your words in a very appropriate manner that it will leave a great impact on others, and the person to whom you are saying ‘no’ will surely perceive this thing that although he has denied me to help me out, but he said it in a very decent and appropriate manner.

 

So, here are some of the best ways to say ‘No’ politely:

     1.    Sounds nice! But I am not available.
2.    I am honored that you asked me, but I can’t do it.
3.    I’m sorry but I can’t help you at this time.
4.    Unfortunately, it’s not a good time.
5.    I am not available at the moment, maybe next time.
6.    Unfortunately, this is not something I can do right now.
7.    I really appreciate you asking me, but I can’t commit to that right now.
8.    Sorry but I can’t make it, maybe another time.
9.    Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t.
10. No, thanks!

Sometimes some friends make a program or there’s some family gathering to which we can’t say ‘No’ directly because you have a formal relation with them. Or sometimes if your Boss says you to go somewhere and you can’t deny it directly to your boss or if your very close friend calls you during your office time, then instead of being saying ‘No’ rudely to them, we can use the alternative phrase of saying ‘No’ which is: “Sounds nice! But I am not available.”

Sometimes it happens to you like if some of your elders in age or experience or some of your close family relative calls you and assigns you some important tasks, and on the other hand, you are sure that although you have the capability to complete this task, but due to unavailability of time or some sources, we can’t perform that task on time. So, in such situations you can use this phrase in a nice way “I am honored that you asked me, but I can’t do it.”

The third situation in which we can use another alternative of saying ‘No’ is sometimes we wanted to help but on the other hand you know that the person who is asking for the help is not capable or may not give you the quality output. Or sometimes there comes another situation in your life where some of your friends are really needy and asks for some money, but on the other side you also know that he won’t give it back to you. So, in such situations, you wanted to help them, but you can’t help them due to your own limited set budgets. So, in such situations, one can use this phrase to say ‘No’: “I’m sorry but I can’t help you at this time”.

Then comes another situation like some of your junior colleagues calling you on the weekend for help but you are busy somewhere on weekend and you can’t help them out. Another situation can become a little funnier that you know in your friend circle, there will always be one of your friends who is known as a ‘night-owl’ because he will always call you at midnight and says on phone “I wonder if you’re sleeping or not? I wanted to discuss something” but then after all the chat you come to know that the discussion was not something worth your time. Then instead of being rude, you can use this phrase, “Unfortunately, it’s not a good time”.

Then there is another very interesting situation comes specially when your have to deny some of your co-workers or subordinates through email but keep in mind that the email reply should be in a very humble way, then you can use this phrase to say ‘No’ in a kind way, “I am not available at the moment, maybe next time”.

Sometimes, if someone has asked you to do some work or task, and you didn’t like that work even though you know that you have the capability to do that particular task, but your moral values, mind or due to some limitations didn’t allow you to perform that task. So, in such a situation, we can use this phrase like “Unfortunately, this is not something I can do right now”.

If some of our friends invites us to some event or occasion like a marriage ceremony, birthday party or some other gathering, but we cannot go and instead we say I’ll try my best to come or we say if I’ll get the time, I will surely be there at the event. But sometimes due to our certain reasons like unavailability of time, job hours, family issues, travelling or poor weather conditions we cannot make the commitments and then instead of saying ‘No’, we can use this phrase as “I really appreciate you asking me, but I can’t commit to that right now”.

On weekends, we have scheduled our plans for example movie time with kids, friend’s gathering, some courses that only happen to be on weekends or some passive income sources towards which we have fixed our time and we know that we can’t leave all those tasks undone, so in this case, you can use this phrase politely to disagree like “Sorry but I can’t make it, maybe another time”.

Sometimes some persons put forward very strong and hard conditions in front of you and you still think that at least this person has considered me in this matter, but you can’t agree to those conditions, so in such case, we can use the phrase to refuse like “Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t”.

When someone offers you delicious food, but you are already full to your appetite or if someone offers you some kind of help that you think you don’t need now, then you can use this phrase “No, thanks!”

With all these ways to say ‘No’ politely, I would suggest that you choose some of your favorite phrases and practice or memorize them saying in your daily life rather than simply saying ‘no’.