Politics is usually a slog of dry procedural rules and monotone speeches that could put a caffeinated squirrel to sleep. Then, once in a decade, someone breaks the script. When Maxine Waters repeatedly told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, "Secretary, I'm reclaiming my time," during a 2017 House Financial Services Committee hearing, she wasn't just following House Rule XVII. She was accidentally birthing a cultural phenomenon. It wasn't just about a heated exchange over a letter regarding President Trump’s financial ties to Russia. It was about the power of the floor.
People felt that.
The phrase instantly leaped from the Congressional Record to Twitter feeds, then to T-shirts, and eventually into the very fabric of how we talk about work-life balance and personal agency. It’s been years, but the "secretary I'm reclaiming my time" moment still pops up in memes and office Slack channels whenever someone feels like their expertise is being sidelined or their clock is being drained by nonsense.
The Rules of the Game: What "Reclaiming My Time" Actually Means
In the world of U.S. House committee hearings, time is the only currency that matters. Each member usually gets a strict five-minute window to question a witness. If a witness—in this case, Secretary Mnuchin—starts rambling, complimenting the committee, or using up those precious seconds with "thank yous" and "it's a pleasure to be here," they are effectively burning the clock.
Waters knew the game. She didn't want the pleasantries. She wanted the answers.
When a member says they are reclaiming their time, they are legally pausing the witness’s ability to speak. It’s a procedural "shut up, I’m talking now." Under House rules, the clock belongs to the representative, not the witness. If the witness continues to speak after the member reclaims their time, they are technically in violation of committee decorum, though it rarely leads to more than a stern look or a gavel bang from the chair.
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Honestly, the mechanics are pretty boring until you see them weaponized. Mnuchin seemed genuinely baffled, or perhaps he was just playing the stalling game. He tried to flatter her. He tried to explain how long he’d worked in the industry. Waters wasn't having it. Each time he veered off-track, she hit him with the phrase. It was rhythmic. It was surgical. It was a masterclass in not letting a powerful person "slow-roll" a conversation.
Beyond the Hearing: Why the Phrase Went Nuclear
Why did this specific interaction with a cabinet secretary go so viral? It’s because everyone has been in a meeting where a "Secretary" type—a boss, a loud colleague, a condescending peer—tried to talk over them.
The internet didn't see a procedural maneuver. They saw a Black woman in a position of authority refusing to be talked down to by a man who was trying to eat up her window of opportunity. It became a meme, sure, but it also became a tool for professional survival.
We live in a world of "time bandits." You know the type. They schedule a thirty-minute sync that could have been an email, then spend twenty minutes talking about their weekend. When you finally try to bring up the project deadline, they interrupt you. In those moments, "reclaiming my time" is the internal mantra we all use to keep from screaming. It’s about the fundamental right to control your own output and your own presence in a room.
The Gender and Race Dynamics at Play
You can't talk about the Secretary I'm reclaiming my time moment without acknowledging the optics.
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Congresswoman Waters has been in the game since the 90s. She’s seen every trick in the book. When she stood her ground against Mnuchin, it resonated deeply with women—especially women of color—who are statistically more likely to be interrupted in professional settings. A 2014 study from George Washington University found that men interrupted women 33% more often than they interrupted other men.
When Waters shut him down, she wasn't being "rude." She was being efficient.
The pushback she received was predictable. Critics called her "shrill" or "unprofessional." But if a male committee chair had done the same thing, it would have been framed as "taking charge" or "no-nonsense leadership." That double standard is exactly why the phrase became a rallying cry. It provided a linguistic shield. It gave people a way to frame their assertiveness as a matter of procedural rightness rather than emotional outburst.
How to Reclaim Your Time in a 2026 Workspace
We aren't all sitting in the Rayburn House Office Building with a gavel in our hand. But we are all dealing with "Secretary" energy in our daily lives. Whether it's a micromanaging supervisor or a client who thinks your "out of office" reply is a suggestion, you have to find ways to reclaim the clock.
Stop the "Politeness Tax"
Most of us are trained to let people finish, even if they are wasting our time. We wait for a natural lull that never comes. Reclaiming your time means creating that lull. In a Zoom call, this looks like: "I’m going to jump in here because I want to make sure we hit the three points on the agenda before we lose everyone."
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The Power of the Hard Stop
Waters had a literal clock counting down. You should too. If a meeting is set for 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM, at 2:28 PM, you should be saying, "I have a hard stop in two minutes. What are our actionable next steps?" Do not let the meeting bleed into your next task. That’s your time. Protect it.
Email Boundaries
If someone sends a rambling email that requires a simple yes or no, don't feel obligated to match their word count. Give them the "yes" and move on. Your time is more valuable than their need for a long-winded back-and-forth.
The Lingering Legacy of the Waters-Mnuchin Exchange
There’s a reason we’re still talking about this. It’s because the power dynamic in workplaces is shifting, but not fast enough. We are moving away from the "yes-man" culture of the 20th century toward a more results-oriented, boundary-focused environment.
Maxine Waters didn't set out to create a catchphrase. She set out to get information from the Department of the Treasury. The fact that her insistence on efficiency became a cultural touchstone says more about us than it does about her. It says we are tired. We are tired of being talked over, tired of performative politeness, and tired of losing our days to people who don't respect our schedule.
When you think about the "secretary I'm reclaiming my time" incident, don't just think about the politics. Think about the agency. It’s a reminder that your time is the only non-renewable resource you have. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. You don't owe it to anyone to let them waste it.
Practical Steps for Reclaiming Your Professional Life
- Audit your calendar. Look at every recurring meeting. If you aren't contributing or learning, stop going. Or ask for the meeting notes instead.
- Use "Transition Phrases." Practice saying, "To bring us back to the main point..." or "Moving forward, we need to focus on..." These are the corporate equivalents of reclaiming your time.
- Set "Deep Work" Blocks. Literally mark your calendar as "Busy" for two hours a day. No calls, no Slack, no "Secretary" energy allowed. This is how you reclaim your cognitive space.
- Acknowledge the Interruption Immediately. If someone cuts you off, don't wait five minutes to speak again. Say, "One second, I'd like to finish this thought before we move to your point."
Assertiveness isn't aggression. It's just honesty. When you reclaim your time, you aren't taking something away from someone else; you are simply taking back what was always yours. Waters showed us that even in the highest halls of power, you can draw a line in the sand. You can demand that the conversation stays on track. You can be the one in control of the clock.
The next time you’re stuck in a meeting that’s spiraling into a black hole of corporate jargon, remember the secretary I'm reclaiming my time moment. You don't need a gavel. You just need the confidence to say that your time matters more than their noise. Stop letting people "slow-roll" your life. Take the floor back. Keep it. Use it.