Declining a new project

I'm buried under deadlines from the quarterly report and two client deliverables that just landed—can we push this new project to next sprint?

My key team member is out with the flu, leaving me to cover their tasks single-handedly right now.

I've got a stomach bug that's knocking me out; I can barely focus on my current priorities.

Family emergency popped up—my sibling needs help moving unexpectedly this week.

Our server crashed this morning, and I'm knee-deep in troubleshooting with IT to get everything back online.

I'm scheduled for mandatory compliance training all afternoon that conflicts with starting this.

The budget for extra hours got slashed last week, so I can't take on more without overtime approval.

Vendor delayed our critical parts shipment due to a warehouse fire—handling that fallout first.

Power outage at home knocked out my remote setup; still scrambling to recover lost work.

I double-booked myself with a high-priority stakeholder meeting that just got rescheduled to overlap.

Car broke down on the way to work—spent the morning at the mechanic instead of prepping.

Client feedback loop exploded with urgent revisions on the ongoing campaign.

I underestimated how long the data migration would take—it's eating all my bandwidth.

Pet sitter flaked, so I'm juggling dog daycare logistics during work hours.

New company-wide software rollout requires me to migrate all my files before adding anything else.

Weather wiped out my internet with a freak storm—back online but playing catch-up.

Forgot about the cross-department collab session that's locked in my calendar all week.

Need to prep for an audit that's looming next Monday—can't divert focus yet.

Skill gap here; I'd need a quick training session first, which isn't slotted in.

Resource shortage—our shared tools are maxed out, can't spin up more without upgrades.