How do you politely let a colleague know that they rely on you a bit too much and that you can’t always help? One of my colleagues stays active on Teams all day and messages me constantly with very small questions. I don’t mind helping, but it’s starting to affect my own time management and focus. I want to set a healthy boundary without sounding rude or unapproachable.

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Can you start setting your status as Away or Do Not Disturb or something? I don't use Teams at work, but I feel like the easiest way to force them to figure things out on their own is to just stop responding, one way or another.

I have my status as offline all the time but they know my schedule and don't shy away from shooting a text every day. I guess I need to stop responding as you said.

I have had to have that conversation before. I simply suggest they start taking notes and remind them I am not always around. After that, if it continues, you may have to have a talk with your boss.

Let them know that you need to get into a flow state in order to get your work done, and encourage them to write down all of their questions and reach out to you once a day with everything all at once. I did this with a coworker and they ended up realizing they could answer their own questions if I wasn't constantly available.

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