Page 63 - Free Yourself From

46 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

see that more often than not, women unknowingly bring this work-
life crisis on themselves.
It’s their sticky floor.
Now, I am not here to say that men aren’t capable of having bad
priorities. They were mastering workaholism long before we were
allowed out of the steno pool. But women have natural traits and
virtues that can work to their disadvantage when it comes to man-
aging work and life.
If I were a doctor, I would look for symptoms of work-life imbal-
ance. I would ask: Do you . . .

• Feel caught in an exhausting cycle of projects or demands
that seem endless?
• Feel angry at people who ask you for favors, even
reasonable ones?
• Have a difficult time saying no to others even when you
want to?
• Feel burned out?
• Feel you’ve lost your creative spark?
• Feel you’ve lost your self-motivation?

If you have any or all of these symptoms, you’ll need to look for
the root cause of your problem. A chronic lack of work-life balance
can be the result of your reluctance to delegate, extremely high stan-
dards, a skewed sense of loyalty, or a refusal to set boundaries. You
can almost think of these things as the virus underlying the symp-
toms. For a deeper diagnosis, consider whether any of the following
tendencies for women strike a chord with you.

The Multitasking Syndrome: Many women are wired to be good
multi-taskers, but it backfires when they overtask. They take on
too many projects or goals, and wind up juggling too much.