Something I've had a long and hard time learning is that others treat my time approximately as valuable as I do. When I'm always an instant message away, respon

Something I've had a long and hard time learning is that others treat my time approximately as valuable as I do. When I'm always an instant message away, responding to any problem, allowing interruptions, and not setting boundaries, I'm signaling that my time isn't as valuable. So others treat it that way, and I become overworked. If instead most of my interactions with people are on important matters, then they see my time as important. Setting boundaries and saying no to more trivial requests generally increases the respect people show.