Page 77 - Free Yourself From

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

Create a new time “budget” that reflects your new priorities and
time allotments. Take it to work and read it twice a day. Bring it
home and put it back on your night table so it’s there to refer to first
thing in the morning. Do this for three months. Eventually the
process will become intuitive and you’ll carry what you need in your
head rather than having to refer to it on paper.

Establish Your Boundaries and Communicate Them

Remember that you are the one making changes in how you priori-
tize and order your life. Everyone around you is still the same. The
office workaholics will still try to call 5:00 meetings, the chatty
clients will still call when you’re on a deadline, and that woman at
church or temple will still pressure you into giving more time than
you’d like to your volunteer commitments.
The good news is that effective change starts at the top. The higher
up you climb, the better the position you’re in to not only set expec-
tations around how you work, but also influence the tone and work-
life culture for your team or division, or even your whole company.
Sharon Allen, Chairman of Deloitte & Touche USA, and listed
among the world’s most powerful women in Forbes, says this: “If
you want to balance work and life, it’s important to be transparent
about your goals and expectations. We need to be clear about letting
others know we are leaving work at 5 p.m. to see our son’s soccer
game. And as executives, we need to be seen doing these things to let
others know it is okay to leave at 5:00 for their son’s soccer game.
This sets a healthy expectation of what’s accepted for yourself and for
others.”
All you can do is acknowledge that you always have choices and
you can always say no. You can go to that meeting or tell the person
you have a prior commitment and leave. You can take that call now
or return it when it’s more convenient for you. You can run the