RULE 36
Know your limitations
In one sense helping other people is all about them, but of course it’s about you as well. You’re going to be doing the helping: covering for them at work while they’re away, cooking freezer meals for them while they’re laid up with a bad back, taking their kids to school for a couple of weeks, coming to the hospital with them for their test results.
I’ve already talked about putting your oxygen mask on first, to protect yourself from emotional fallout. But even when the help is more practical, you have to be honest about what is attainable. If you offer to cover for a colleague at work and then find you can’t cope, how will that help them? Suppose you promise to go to the hospital with them and then find at the ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access