Time isn't a limitless resource. It's hard enough trying to find time for everything that you really have to do, even before you look at squeezing in some things that you would like to do around the sides - and it becomes a lot harder if you're expected to find gaps in your schedule for the demands and requests and hopes and could-you-pleases and if-you-have-a-moments that others may send your way. In business as in life as a whole, you need to keep these extras under control. Of course, there's never anything wrong with helping someone else out - but there must be limits, and it's a good idea to start drawing that line at the point at which you or your business will start genuinely to suffer from the overstretching of your valuable time.

This can be easier said than done, though. Planning out the use of your time is an important starting point - but making sure that that plan is adhered to is much more difficult, particularly if you're likely to have to deal with others trying to place extra demands on your time. New demands might issue from any part of your organisation, from above or below or from those at the same level as yourself. The demands might be wholly reasonable; perhaps new tasks and projects that would bring potentially significant benefits to the company. They may be existing tasks that are running behind, leaving others to approach you to assist with their completion - again, demands of this nature can be difficult to avoid if they bring a clear advantage to the organisation. Alternatively, you can never rule out the possibility that colleagues may be intending simply to offload their work on to you, to transfer the burden or perhaps the blame.

It can be hard not to agree to these demands. We'd all like to be helpful, friendly, considerate. Most of us would like to help the business to remain prosperous too - so if there's a task which might injure the company if it isn't completed, we'll naturally feel drawn to helping out. But what about your own tasks, the existing demands on your own time? These need to be fulfilled as well; spreading yourself too thinly will only produce unsatisfactory results (and a number of partially or completed tasks, which can often be the most harmful alternative of all). In short, you need to say no, even when - especially when - there's a strong temptation to say yes instead.

But in spite of the temptation, keep this in mind: saying no doesn't mean that you're not being helpful, friendly or considerate. Answering in the negative shouldn't be seen as being negative. The no can be couched in fair and reasonable terms; explaining honestly why it would be impossible to agree to the extra work will always create a better atmosphere than simply denying a request. And if the benefits of helping out with the task are too great to ignore, why not negotiate to do it at a later time when you've less on your plate, or perhaps to do part if you just haven't enough time to do it all? Favouring a cooperative no over a defiant no will always help to maintain an amicable working environment.

After all, skills for managing your time don't exist in isolation; these are important issues for strong leadership as well. For you to always be amenable and willing to take on extra work might well come across as being friendly, but it certainly does not suggest a resolute, strong and effective leader. To be respected in this role, to encourage your team to work with you, and to promote morale and an optimistic working environment, it's vital to show that you are in control. Being seen as a pushover may leave you seeming likeable, but not a leader, not someone to be followed and relied upon. This, in turn, raises questions about the future prosperity of the business, and consequently about job security and career prospects.

Even when the need to say no is recognised, learning to do so can take time. A lifetime of being agreeably flexible can be difficult to change. The benefits of politely denying a request might seem uncertain when faced with the disappointment of a trusted colleague - this can only be overcome with confidence in your actions. In part, this confidence can stem from practice, and from experience of situations where saying no has proved to be for the best. But it also needs to grow from cohesive planning and a belief in where you and the business are headed. By knowing exactly what you should be doing, and why it needs to be done, it can be much easier to have faith in your own intentions, and be confident enough to deny the requests of others. By saying no, you're really saying yes to the bigger picture.

This practice, planning and preparation can be also assisted by a short training course. With expert tuition in strategies for dealing with requests that need to be turned down, you can get a headstart on reaching that point of saying no whenever it is needed, and in the confident belief that it is the right thing. Before long, you and your organisation can be sure of always saying yes to progress and to the future.