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Declining a new project
Declining a new project — Believable, tone-matched scripts for the office — plus the honest alternative.
- 01
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?
- 02
My key team member is out with the flu, leaving me to cover their tasks single-handedly right now.
- 03
I've got a stomach bug that's knocking me out; I can barely focus on my current priorities.
- 04
Family emergency popped up—my sibling needs help moving unexpectedly this week.
- 05
Our server crashed this morning, and I'm knee-deep in troubleshooting with IT to get everything back online.
- 06
I'm scheduled for mandatory compliance training all afternoon that conflicts with starting this.
- 07
The budget for extra hours got slashed last week, so I can't take on more without overtime approval.
- 08
Vendor delayed our critical parts shipment due to a warehouse fire—handling that fallout first.
- 09
Power outage at home knocked out my remote setup; still scrambling to recover lost work.
- 10
I double-booked myself with a high-priority stakeholder meeting that just got rescheduled to overlap.
- 11
Car broke down on the way to work—spent the morning at the mechanic instead of prepping.
- 12
Client feedback loop exploded with urgent revisions on the ongoing campaign.
- 13
I underestimated how long the data migration would take—it's eating all my bandwidth.
- 14
Pet sitter flaked, so I'm juggling dog daycare logistics during work hours.
- 15
New company-wide software rollout requires me to migrate all my files before adding anything else.
- 16
Weather wiped out my internet with a freak storm—back online but playing catch-up.
- 17
Forgot about the cross-department collab session that's locked in my calendar all week.
- 18
Need to prep for an audit that's looming next Monday—can't divert focus yet.
- 19
Skill gap here; I'd need a quick training session first, which isn't slotted in.
- 20
Resource shortage—our shared tools are maxed out, can't spin up more without upgrades.
“Thanks for thinking of me for this project, but I truly don't have the capacity right now with my current workload—can we discuss reprioritizing or delegating?”
When you’d rather just say what’s up.
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