Should I start speaking up for myself at my workplace?

I’m not saying that speaking up is always the best option. The idea is to have a range of choices and pick the one that will be most effective in a situation. There’s a big difference between telling your sweetheart of a boss that you can’t do a top-notch job alone and need some help and raising the issue with a supervisor who’s not your biggest fan and who’s in the midst of choosing which supervisee to lay off due to budget cuts. The key here is options: You have the ability to speak up but use your judgment to decide when and where. Nice girls aren’t comfortable asserting themselves and are almost always living in protection or survival mode, even when they no longer need to.