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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is to offer a fixed set of options to guide

decisions in a direction that works for you. Today's tip comes from author and career coach

Melody Wilding. Her latest book is Managing Up, How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge.

When Melody was a guest on this podcast a few months ago, she offered a tip for the Boundaries

conversation. This is the conversation you need to have when you are assigned a new project,

but you are already at capacity.

She recommended taking what she calls the trade-off approach, or offering what she says is called

forced choice in the research. Here's how that works. If your boss assigns you a new project,

when you are scrambling to complete what is

already on your plate, ask your boss which of your current projects she wants you to delay.

You are clear about the impact of this new project. You can't complete the existing projects on

schedule. And you position your boss as a

partner and figuring out how to adjust deadlines in alignment with her priorities. You are not

assuming the deadlines are fixed. Instead, you're assuming your capacity is relatively fixed.

And you are working with your boss to adjust the deadlines as needed.

You are giving her a choice about how to do this. I love this approach. You're maintaining your

boundaries and not taking on more than you can realistically be expected to do. But you're also not simply saying no.

You're also not adjusting the deadlines in your head and just hoping for the best. You and your

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