You must set the boundary for your life. People are remarkably adaptive. If you don’t plan your life, others will.
Here is an example. I have the TYM project with a senior MG: the only thing he did was checking the grammars. Yet, because I willingly played the role of juniors, the normal game between seminar and junior workers, MG played his part to: they say they have great expectation of you. What they really mean is that they will do almost nothing but want to slave you.
So I decided to reset the expectation by playing the game a bit differently. Here is the series of email exchanges in the last a few days.
———————————————
Hey, L – just checking in. Paper was to go out in Nov, Dec, Jan… Almost March!
We going to get it under submission?
M.G.
__________________________________
Dear M,
I have several pending revision going on. So I won’t be able to work on it for at least a month.
If you are in the hurry, here is the latest version that you can work on.
Best,
L.
——————————————————
I haven’t heard from him since. Expectation reset?
A side note. In signaling games, actions must be credible in order to signal (often go with costs others are unwilling to bear). The purpose is to change/sharpen the belief of the rival. Maybe this is the underlying logic for my action.
A MAN OF ACTION 
“If you don’t plan your life, others will.” – This is so true! People form an image of who you are as a person and stick to this, even if it’s far from the truth. I’ve also decided to stop adjusting to other’s perspectives of me, but I’m adamant to go down the Brutally Honest-road. I’ve been too dishonest to myself for too long, and I am done with playing games.
I hope your new mindset is a keeper! It’s nice to read how you have changed your ways of thinking recently, and how you’re implementing this into your life. Keep it up!
LikeLiked by 1 person