The importance of saying no, according to creative pros

It’s all very well to put the tools in place to manage your time, but if you say yes to too much, no amount of post-it notes or Asana boards can save you.

This is where it's really important to practice (and master) the art of being intentional with the time you actually have. Sometimes, you just have to say no.

We spoke to three creatives about how they do that and the other tips that are important to them when it comes to managing their time.

Olivia Lloyd is executive producer at Havas Play UK and also co-owns CAMP, a queer bar and community space in Margate: "I find managing my time isn’t about squeezing more into my calendar, it’s about being intentional with what and when I do it.

"Protecting headspace is essential and I’ve learned to time-block, separating ‘thinking' from ‘operational’ or ‘admin' tasks, and to be clear about what only I can do versus what I need to delegate," explains Olivia.

But there's another trick to deciding where to focus your time. "Saying that, I’m acutely aware that I can’t balance everything with perfect planning. I’ve stopped trying to be endlessly available," says Olivia. "Sustainable creativity comes from committing fully to what matters, and accepting that the rest will always be unfinished, because let’s be honest, when have we ever truly finished that to-do list!?"

“For me, time management is mostly about knowing when to say no," says Joseph Slawinski, social impact creative at Shape History. "Where are you actually needed? If it would simply be ‘nice to have you’ in a meeting, then you don’t need to be in it. The more time you can put into creative thinking, the better."

For Rachel Brandt, co-founder and CEO of female-founded social agency Corner Table Creative, she believes in protecting the time that matters: “In 2026, the time-management practice that makes the biggest difference for me is protecting a daily team ‘pre-shift’ meeting.

"It is a short, consistent reset where we align across the organisation on the single top priority and surface roadblocks early, so focus holds throughout the day instead of getting fractured by reactive threads."