TED Talks Daily Sunday Pick: Protecting your time with Linda Babcock | WorkLife with Adam Grant
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Aug 10, 2025 This conversation explores the importance of setting boundaries in our personal and professional lives. Linda discusses the societal pressures that make saying no particularly challenging for women. Strategies from 'The No Club' are shared, showing how to manage non-promotable tasks and avoid burnout. They highlight the concept of the 'diva moment'—recognizing when to decline tasks out of obligation. The discussion also emphasizes the need for equitable task distribution and the significance of mastering time management for meaningful productivity.
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Managers Default To Asking Women
- Linda Babcock found managers tend to ask women more often to take on those tasks.
- That expectation leads women to accept more non-promotable work even when they don't want it.
Women Lose 200 Hours A Year
- Time-use data showed women spent about 200 extra hours per year on non-promotable tasks.
- Linda Babcock warns this gap reduces time for promotable work and harms women's careers.
Rotate And Assign Support Tasks
- Linda Babcock recommends rotating or randomly assigning support tasks to make allocation fair.
- Assign a manager to allocate these tasks instead of relying on volunteers.
