Totally agree. Good businesses will not belittle you for properly communicating when you are at your limit, they will seek out solutions to properly balance the work with the available resources. It is better to communicate that you can either continue your current priorities or you can drop x and y completely and refocus on z. If you take on too much and get none of x, y, or z done, then you, your peers, and the business are in trouble. Management of expectations is paramount. People don’t like to be surprised, and business does not have a conscious or feelings; manage the expectations of your peers, and don’t lose sleep about whether you offended the business by saying no, because it doesn’t care, it just wants to find some path to monetary success.