Saying "No" at Work

strengthened, and you must know the boundaries between Boss & subordinates.

There is now an indirect rule, do not involve EMOTION.
PROFESSIONAL keep working.

Affirm .... one sentence, do you have a lot comment.

Telling the truth in ways that aren't offensive, defensive, and letting them know you're still keeping busy and doing work to promote the company. Something like: "I'm really piled with this project right now, but I could take a look after I've finished." Never literally say the word "no." If they keep asking you, "Maybe ask them if it is a higher priority than what you are doing right now, and ask if you should switch to start working on this new project instead."

This has been said previously before, but I thought some examples would be helpful in wording them. Also, the attitude of how you say them counts a lot. If you look positive and really have no aggression in your eyes and face, it's more likely they will let up. :] Good luck!

I like the ideas so far. I'd say to simply explain yourself. It's okay to say no at work, especially if you have a good reason. One of the most common reasons is that people have too much on their plate already. If you explain that you have too many other, more important things to do, a good manager will be willing to accept that, or at least work with you to find a way for you to get things done.

If its a boss, ask them to prioritize your work for you. Have a list handy at all times of all the tasks you have to do and how much time you estimate it will take to do each job. this makes it easy for you to show what you have already agreed/assigned to do. This way if you are being assigned way too much work you have proof you are overloaded.

it is convenient to show this list to coworkers too. you can say to them, is their task more important than work assigned by bosses.

I had a boss who kept assigning me more and more stuff to do. I asked him to prioritize the work. When he couldn't it, I was able to go further up chain and had proof I was over worked. We got more employees as a result. Boss was happy he had more staff, I was happy I was less over worked and got promoted.

My recommendation for saying no is be realistic and constructive. The realism comes in when considering requests as to what your capabilities actually are. Noone likes people who accept tasks then fail to deliver on them. It also helps to have an understanding of the availability and capabilities of others. I always try to suggest an alternate solution where I can either involving me partially contributing the solution with help from others or by an alternate novel solution. It is often the case that bosses are supportive of this as it broadens the group of people he can call on in the future to deal with similar issues.