A mentor's 8-word phrase saved this employee from burnout and 'saved his career'
"A lot of us early in our careers say 'yes' to everything."
Man shares 8-word phrase that he learned from mentor to avoid burnout and be a better professional.
Burnout is a real struggle among American workers. According to a 2025 study released by Moodle, 66% of Americans reported feeling burnout from their jobs. And in another 2025 workplace poll conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), workers reported high rates of “burnout,” “stress,” and “overwhelm.”
To help others, a man struggling with burnout in his career shared in a since deleted Reddit post how his mentor taught him a simple phrase to use with his boss to better manage expectations while seemingly helping him appear more professional.
"A lot of us early in our careers say yes to everything. That’s how you burn out fast," he wrote, before sharing that a mentor taught him an eight-word phrase that helped save his career: "I can do it, but not by then."
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He went on to explain, "Instead of: 'I can’t take this on', say: 'I can take this on, but realistically it’ll be done by [X date].' This does three things: Shows you’re willing, not lazy. Sets realistic boundaries without burning bridges. Teaches others to respect your time."
The employee concluded, "The irony? You’ll usually be seen as more professional — not less — because you’re managing expectations instead of dropping the ball."
The advice resonated with many other workers, who also shared how they manage their boss' expectations of them.
"So true," one commented. "Setting expectations early and offering a realistic alternative saves so much headache down the road."
@melrobbins This is why you feel so burnt out and tired... Thank you @Jay Shetty for having me on this episode of @On Purpose Podcast! #melrobbins #letthemtheory #boundaries #ownyourdecisions
Another shared, "I've been doing this more and more, after working my role for a few years I have a decent understanding of a manageable workload with consideration of having stuff thrown on my lap or having time for training. Kind of funny because I'll say 'I can get it done but not this week, maybe next week or the one after that.'"
They added that this can help take pressure off you. "Suddenly this places accountability on my supervisor to even do a little work by looking further into it, due dates, priority and it will turn into nothing of importance or they'll find a coworker that actually has nothing else going on to delegate it to or end up doing it themselves (because they probably had nothing going on anyway)," they explained. "I always tell them to let me know if I can still assist. Just consider how to set boundaries that work for you and how to present those boundaries to be for the company's benefit."
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How to use it
To help others implement the phrase, another employee shared the best way to use this advice in a conversation with your boss: "'I see you're asking for X, Y and Z. Realistically we can accomplish X and Y in that timeframe. How about we take a phased approach to this project? X and Y can be Phase 1 and get out on time, and we'll consider Z Phase 2 to be completed after the discussed date.'"
The user noted that this has never failed them. "Phased approaches work almost every single time for me," they added. "It lets the person you're working with know that you deem all parts of the projects acceptable and important, but also gives them the chance to meet you half way, while eventually getting exactly what they wanted."