8 minutes · No account needed
Practice a clear boundary
Prepare a clear limit, an optional alternative, and a shorter reply if you are asked again.
How to use this worksheet
Start with one ordinary request. Write what you were asked to do and any commitment already made. Then decide what you can honestly offer. A limit about timing is different from a limit about taking on the task at all.
Use complete sentences in your own voice. An alternative is optional; leave it blank if you do not want to offer one. Your first reply combines the clear limit and any alternative. The second reply gives you a shorter version to practice if the request is repeated. You decide what to say, when to say it, and whether these words fit the situation.
Read the full guide: Practice a boundary before you need itYour worksheet
Your writing is not sent to Aloud or saved by this worksheet. Download a copy to keep it, and clear it when you are finished.
For your notes: what is being asked, by when, and what have you already agreed to?
Write a complete sentence about what you can or cannot do.
Optional. Offer only something you can realistically follow through on.
A shorter version that keeps the same decision clear.
A worked example
Illustrative example · Your own answer can look different
- The request and context
- A colleague has a deadline and asked me to review a long draft tonight. I already have plans and have not promised a review.
- My clear limit
- I cannot review the draft tonight.
- An alternative, if I want to offer one
- I can read the introduction on Friday morning.
- If I am asked again
- I understand the deadline. Tonight still will not work for me.
When you return to your notes
Read your reply aloud. Remove a promise that would recreate the same problem later. If you are changing an agreement already made, acknowledge that change and give clear notice rather than treating it as a new request.
Explore the other worksheets