What to Do If You Are Everyone's Emergency Contact

You answer fast, you fix things, and now everyone — coworkers, family, friends — has learned that dropping a problem on you gets it solved immediately. That feels good until you notice your own priorities never get the same instant treatment as everyone else's fires.

Start introducing a small delay on purpose: "I will look at this tomorrow morning" instead of dropping everything tonight. Save the true instant response for what is genuinely time-critical — most "emergencies" were never actually emergencies.