How good are you at setting boundaries? Saying no, protecting your time and energy, staying out of jobs below your pay grade, avoiding annoyance and resentment?
If you're an ambitious high-achiever, you might suck at boundaries. It's an occupational hazard. If you've ever found yourself overextended and unfulfilled and wondering why you seem to work the hardest and care the most but aren't experiencing the benefits of that, you have a boundary problem.
Boundaries are the key to personal and professional peace. (If you need help with yours, that's another reason to join us on Not An MBA in 2024.) We tackle boundaries early in the course, laying the foundation for learning all the strategic skills you need to dig yourself out of the hole you've dug.
We help you learn to stop nurturing unreasonable expectations and start looking after yourself - and watch as the magic happens, more gets done, and your stress levels drop off a cliff. The reason we do this in an executive leadership course is because often, senior leaders get to where they are by pushing themselves past their own personal limits - doing more, giving more, and working harder. They're passionate and purpose-driven. Which makes it hard to set boundaries.
They don't want to let people down or look bad. But when they refuse to draw a line in the sand about what we will and won't tolerate, they wind up letting people down anyway - and denying them the opportunity to respond to our discomfort. When we choose boundaries, we choose guilt but save ourselves and others.
If you need help with boundaries, and naMBA isn't on the cards this year, check out this article. It's one of the most popular articles I've ever written. It explains why boundaries are a gift and provides a step-by-step guide to where to update yours and how to do it.