Office Managers are very good at looking after other people. It comes with the territory. Someone needs something, we sort it. Someone has a problem, we find the answer. A supplier hasn’t turned up, a meeting room isn’t working, an employee needs an adjustment, the CEO needs something “quickly”, there’s an event next week and Finance needs the budget by lunchtime. We become the person people come to because, more often than not, we can help. And there is something genuinely lovely about that. I’ve always enjoyed being useful, solving problems and being somebody people can rely on. I think a lot of Office Managers are wired similarly. The problem comes when being helpful quietly turns into being permanently available: I’ve learned this one the hard way. Earlier in my career, there were periods when working ridiculous hours felt almost normal. At J.P. Morgan I could be working from 9am