Somewhere along the line, many of us got the message that being a “team player” means saying yes to everything — covering every class, joining every committee, giving every ounce of ourselves until there’s nothing left. But here’s the truth: that’s not teamwork. That’s volunteering for your own burnout.

In this episode, Oliver pulls back the curtain on how educators unintentionally sign up for their own exhaustion — and how to stop. He shares stories from his own career (yes, including those years of saying yes to every single opportunity in the name of “proving himself”) and how learning to say no actually made him a better teacher and leader.

This is your permission slip to stop apologizing for having limits. Because healthy boundaries don’t make you selfish — they make you sustainable.