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Boundary · also called limit

how to stop being a doormat

A boundary is a rule about your own behaviour, not a demand on someone else. "I leave at six" is a boundary. "Stop scheduling meetings at six" is a request. The distinction matters because only one of the two is enforceable by you alone.

What to do about it

Rewrite each of your boundaries as something you will do, not something they must stop.

How people say it

Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.

  • people walk all over me
  • I cannot say no
  • I feel guilty saying no
  • how to stop being a doormat
  • I let people take advantage of me
  • saying no without being rude
  • I always put everyone else first
  • how do I stop over-committing
  • I resent people for things I agreed to
  • protecting my time from family
  • why do I apologise for having limits

Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.

About the author

Brian Spiker has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — a real service business with real customers, real Google reviews, and 13 years of work most self-help authors will never do.

He writes the way operators talk: brutal, funny, and built from work that actually has to get done. Verify everything at spikercarpetandtilecare.com.