The Art of Delegation – Let It Go

Today wraps up our three-part series on self-care.  Week one, we talked about taking care of yourself before you crash and burn; week two, we talked about the power of saying “no”; and this week we’re tying this self-care package up with a pretty little bow called DELEGATION.

Now before you decide that the only people who have authority to delegate are people that have employees, think again.  Let’s see how Merriam Webster defines the word delegate:

Good news!  Every single one of us has the power and authority to delegate stuff in our lives!  Stuff in our work lives, stuff at home, stuff in our community involvement, etc.

My list of current “would love to delegate” items include: monthly deep cleaning at my house, some of the back end tech stuff for this blog, picking up dog poop in my yard (ok, that’s just dreamy talk…I wouldn’t ask anyone else to do that awesome job!).  We did recently hire someone to mow our lawn (our son who has moved off to college was our previous delegatee for that job).

Lazy or unrealistic you may say??  I beg to differ!  Here are a few reasons why I think it’s important to delegate as part of your self-care regimen:

1. You will open yourself up to more meaningful opportunities. If your schedule is full, you will likely turn down or miss out on really good opportunities because you can’t fit them in your schedule.
2. You should always try and utilize the highest and best use of your time. For example: Say you have 15 potentially productive hours in any given day.  Here’s a hypothetical breakdown:  Work at your job = 9 hours, commute to and from work = 1 hour, grocery shop = 30 minutes, prepare & eat dinner = 1.5 hours, laundry/iron = 1 hour, exercise = 1 hour.  That all equals 14 hours.  You’ve got one hour left of “awake” time in your day.  Would you rather have some down time to read, work on a fun project, visit with a friend, spend quality time with a family member OR mop the floors?  I say throw the dang mop in!  Hire someone to do the deep cleaning of your house.  Can you tell I’m working on convincing myself here? ; )
3. You empower and/or provide opportunities for others when you delegate. That’s right!  Consider your delegating as an altruistic act.  : )
   On a serious note, we often hold on to tasks/jobs/activities for the wrong reasons—we’ll discuss some of these below–but by letting go, you may be giving someone else an opportunity at a learning experience or a chance to shine in something they do very well.

So now that we have some good reasons to do some delegating in our lives, let’s flip the coin and address some reasons as to why we might have trouble actually delegating stuff in our lives.

• Fear.  Many people, especially in the workplace, fear if they delegate, their job might be in jeopardy or they will be needed less or seen as less important.  This is generally not the case.  Someone in a company who masters the art of delegation, will usually get more accomplished by utilizing the highest and best use of their own time.  The same thing can happen with families–for all you homemakers out there–it is not a sign of failure if you decide to delegate some of your home management duties.  You know the saying, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
• Loss of control. Whether you are a perfectionist or uncertainty causes you anxiety, the idea of losing control is a tough hurtle to overcome.  You must first come to terms with the fact that no mortal being has control over the future and to charge one’s self with the weight of this is an unrealistic burden.  Secondly, fighting perfectionism is an uphill battle.  If you can manage to let go of control, you will experience a freedom like no other.
• Martyrdom.  If you are taking things on to make people feel sorry for you, please find it within yourself to stop immediately.  Martyrdom is the wrong reason to do anything.  It is a form of manipulation that is not healthy for you or those around you.
• Lack of money. I mentioned wanting to hire someone to do the deep cleaning at my house—yes, this costs money, but my husband and I both have full-time jobs and we make decisions and sacrifices that will add value to our chosen lifestyle.  Obviously, each individual or family has to make their own decisions as to what is important to them and what they can afford.  If I make the leap to hire a housekeeper, I would personally make a decision to cut back on eating out.  If it’s not an option for you to delegate tasks where a fee or charge is involved, I would highly recommend a barter.  Using my example, I could offer a housekeeper free marketing or business coaching in return for his or her services.  Get creative…there is usually a way to make things work.

We all deal with different obstacles when it comes to empowering ourselves with delegating, but the key is to remember that the point of delegation is to create a life for yourself in which you are free to do what you were created to do, what you enjoy doing, what is necessary for your family, and what you do best.

I encourage you today to take a look at areas in your life that may be worth delegating, so that you can get to the really good stuff.  I’ve created a Delegation Worksheet to help you get started.

Click here to download your free Delegation Worksheet.

I’d love to hear what you decide to delegate!  Leave your one thing or a list of items in the comments section below.

Thanks for spending time here with me today!