Setting Boundaries in Corporate | Burnout, Work-Life Balance, Leadership, Structure, Prioritization

Have you ever given everything to your job and still been told you were just "fine"? Holly Powell spent more than twenty years in corporate leadership with Home Depot and Lowe's. Her boss told her she was next in line for promotion, then her annual review came back "meets expectations." In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Holly shares the moment she realized she didn't know who she was outside her job, why working harder didn't matter, and three clues for telling whether you need rest, a boundary, or a whole new path. Part 2 drops next Tuesday, so hit follow, and if this helped, share it with a friend and leave a written review.
 
Go Find Holly:
Substack: Holly Powell | Substack 
Instagram: Instagram
Email: Holly@stuckincorporate.com (This will be updated soon)
 
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Ever feel like you’re running on empty, foggy, tense, and short with the people you love, even though “nothing is really wrong”? Your body may be setting a boundary you haven’t set yet.
In this episode, I sit down with Alexis Read, a former dancer and owner of a strength training studio in Oakland, California. She has spent 30+ years helping women rebuild strength and trust in their bodies. Alexis explains how everyday stress (back-to-back meetings, time pressure, poor sleep, endless scrolling) quietly pushes your nervous system into “war mode,” and why that makes change feel impossible no matter how hard you try.
Then she walks us through two tools, live, that you can use between meetings:
✨ The Pause Breath: a simple breathing reset that’s gentler than box breathing✨ The 20/20/20 Vision Reset: look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to calm your whole system
In this episode:
Why brain fog can be a sign you’re stuck in fight-or-flight
How small daily stresses add up until your body treats them like real danger
Why guilt about “not doing enough” is a nervous system issue, not a willpower issue
Alexis’s “test, don’t guess” method for checking whether a tool actually works for YOUR body
A 2-minute reset you can do at your desk
Connect with Alexis:Her free nervous system workshop and “Daily Dose” 2–3 minute practices: https://poemapilates.substack.com
Stay connected with me:Join my free Facebook group, Setting Boundaries in Corporate: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2808006476242265/

You've been told to "communicate your boundaries." So why does your calendar still own you?
 
In my last corporate role, I was leading a large project when a big customer service meeting landed on my calendar. It was still in discovery, and they didn't need me there yet. I sat on that invite until the day of the meeting, scared of how a room full of people would react. When I finally declined, with my boss's buy-in and an update sent ahead, the response was nothing like I feared.
 
In this episode:
Why a boundary is something you do, not something you announce
One question to ask about every meeting: do they need me, or my input?
How to decline without dropping the ball: send your input, say when you'll come back in, and check with your boss on the big ones
Why the fear grows the longer you sit on the invite
Matthew 5:37, the Sermon on the Mount, and letting your yes be yes and your no be no
 
This week's homework: What's one meeting where they need your input, but not you? Replace it with an update, and tell us about it in the Facebook group.
 
If this helped: hit follow so next Tuesday's episode finds you, share it with one friend whose calendar is packed, and leave a quick written review.
 
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
 
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You're the one everyone comes to for the numbers, the status, the answers. It feels like value. What if it's actually keeping you stuck?
 
In my last corporate role, I gave my leaders a monthly recap on how our warehouse sites were performing, and my boss would wait for me to tell him. I thought being the one with the answers was my value. It took helping a dear friend see her own worth this summer for me to realize I'd been banking mine on my output.
 
In this episode:
The myth that being needed is your value, and why it turns you into a bottleneck
How to find the one question people keep bringing to you
Putting that answer somewhere they can reach it without you, using tools you already have
The shift from "here are the numbers" to "here's what I'm seeing"
Ephesians 2:10 and why your worth was never your output
 
This week's homework: Where are you holding on to being the one with the answers? Bring the one question you'll stop answering by hand to the Facebook group.
 
If this helped: hit follow so next Tuesday's episode finds you, share it with one friend who's always the one with the answers, and leave a quick written review.
 
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
 
👥 Join our private FB Community — a space for real conversation, especially in these stolen pockets of time: facebook.com/groups/2808006476242265/
 
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📩 Email me directly: connect@raquelitaconsulting.com

Your to-do list is sorted by due date, and you still feel behind every week. What if the deadline is hiding the thing that actually matters?
Two weeks into a new consulting project, a whole team was waiting on me for one thing: how everyone's work connected, so they could safely move dates on a tight timeline. I spent an hour doing everything else: patching an old plan, asking AI for a shortcut. The real reason wasn't the deadline. It was fear of showing I didn't understand yet.
In this episode:
Why "whatever's due first goes first" quietly keeps you behind
How to spot a blocker: anything someone else can't move on until you do
A two-step check for Monday morning: write who's waiting next to each item, then find the one you keep skipping
Why the blocker is usually the thing that's new, scary, or never been done
Ecclesiastes 11:4 and what it says about waiting to feel ready
 
This week's question: What's the one thing on your list that's new, scary, or never been done — and who's waiting on it? Bring your answer to the Facebook group.
If this helped: hit follow so next Tuesday's episode finds you, share it with one friend who's buried in deadlines, and leave a quick written review.
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
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Has anyone ever told you when to stop working? For most women in corporate, the start time is defined and the end time is left wide open — which means it becomes whatever you can stand. This week, I'm sitting down with Jess Taylor, who spent her career in insurance and had a manager sit her down in her first job out of college and tell her not to come in early and not to stay late. We talk through what happens when nobody protects your time for you, why fourteen scattered hours aren't really four worked hours.
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
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Ever poured months into a project, only to watch it quietly get deprioritized before it ever rolled out? For women pursuing real corporate growth, that moment can feel like a personal failure — even when it never was. This week, I am talking through a story of a nine-month AI initiative that ended in a meeting with her boss and an SVP, and the biblical framework that reframes what actually counts as growth: your own labor, not an outcome you never fully controlled.
 
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you. 
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Struggling to get your priorities straight, even though you already know what matters? For high-achieving corporate women, the real problem usually isn't a lack of structure — it's control. This week, I share the story of a hundred-name spreadsheet, a few too many midnight nights, and the moment pride nearly cost me a state grant deadline.
You'll walk away with The Scope Check — a simple tool for protecting your priorities at work without burning yourself out trying to do it all alone.
Connect with me here:
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
👥 Join our private FB Community by searching Setting Boundaries in Corporate
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Do you ever get home from work and realize you were never really gone from it at all — even though you left the building hours ago?
 
In this episode, I'm telling you about the night I lectured my own kids about respect and dignity in the back seat of my car — while my mind was still sitting at my desk, worried about a report a VP was waiting on. You'll hear the specific ritual I built afterward (I call it the Off-Ramp Ritual) to actually leave work before I walk through the front door, and exactly how to build your own version this week.
 
Even Ecclesiastes reminds us there's a season for everything — which means there's supposed to be a season where work isn't allowed to follow you home.
 
If this is the season you're in and you want help building your own boundary script, email me directly — details inside.
 
⭐ If this episode helped, a written review means the world — it tells me exactly what content to keep making for you.
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She gets overwhelmed. She needs to delegate more.
That's what Josie Anderson's boss wrote in her performance review. And she read it the way most of us would — as evidence that she wasn't measuring up.
It took her months to understand he was handing her a door.
Here's what you'll walk away with:
Why the feedback that stings is sometimes the permission you've been waiting for. Josie's boss saw her burnout before she'd admitted it to herself. What felt like criticism was a manager telling her, in writing, that she didn't have to carry it alone.
Name capacity, not time. When she finally told him she couldn't take on more, she deliberately did not say "I don't have time." She said she didn't have the mental space. One of those sounds like poor planning. The other is honest — and much harder to argue with.
The four words that replaced "no." Instead of declining projects, she started asking: who else can support us? Same boundary, but now you're offering a path forward instead of a roadblock.
The ten-minute non-negotiable she'd hand any woman running on empty — and why it fits in the pockets of time you already have.
Josie didn't find her way out through a better system or a smarter calendar. She found it when she stopped, sat with everything she'd been ignoring, and asked God what her purpose actually was. What came back wasn't a strategy. It was permission to set down what was never hers to carry.
If you're looking for ten minutes today, she'd tell you the pantry counts. So would the car.
💛 If this episode encouraged you, I'd be so grateful if you'd leave a five-star written review — it helps this show reach more women who need to hear it.
Connect with Josie Anderson:
Become an Insider - Weekly Newsletter - https://thedivineselfbyjosieanderson.kit.com/cefef6b7ce
Connect with me on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thedivineselfbyjosie/
 
Looking for support? Join our FREE community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ambitiousmomsupport
 
Ambitious Mom Mindset podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ambitious-mom-mindset-mindfulness-nervous-system-boundaries/id1896785156
 
Ready to start your journey? Awaken to the Divine Self (90 day self reflection journal) - https://thedivineselfbyjosieanderson.com/journal/
 
Hear my performance review story on Josie's show: Ambitious Mom Mindset Ep 10 — https://thedivineselfbyjosieanderson.podbean.com/e/settingboundariesincorporate/
Then come connect deeper:👥 Join the Private Facebook Community — https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1D2SDN7h8D/ — real conversations with women in the same season, not just a feed ✉️ Get weekly takeaways in your inbox —raquel-ita.kit.com/insider — the tools from each episode, distilled 📣 Follow the Public Page —https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565430254038
— quotes, behind-the-scenes, and episode drops 📸 Follow on Instagram — @raquel.ita.llc — encouragement between episodes 📩 Email me directly — connect@raquelitaconsulting.com — I read every message