Why you need to start delegating those trivial tasks NOW

by | Jan 3, 2022 | Marketing, SaaS | 0 comments

Truth: If your brain can learn it, there’s usually another brain that can learn it.

It’s a fundamental truth that took me years to learn, and blocked me from growing the company a lot faster than if I had just accepted the truth.

What delayed me for so many years from delegating roles, tasks, projects, and responsibilities off my plate was a dangerous, simple lie that I believed: that no one else could do it nearly as well as I could.

In my mind, I was faster, more efficient, and more technically sound than anyone else I knew at certain functions in my business.

And I believed the lie — born out of years of independence, small budgets, and lacking leadership — that I could do it all.

But after about 1.5 – 2 years of doing it on my own for so long, I was starting to feel the effects of burnout. I hadn’t actually enjoyed most of the tasks and responsibilities I had on my plate in months, possibly years.

I loved running the business and working with clients, but details started to slip and it was getting harder and harder to execute basic tasks.

It was time for a change, and that meant hiring people to help me execute.

On delegation

Delegation is wonderful thing, and there’s a few simple reasons why we do it:

1. Preserves our precious energy as leaders, CEOs, founders

2. Unlocks growth in the business by expanding the team’s capacity

3. Enables us to devote more focus and attention to the things that need us

4. Facilitates mutual trust amongst the team when they prove to be reliable

5. Decreases stress and anxiety for the self and everyone else around them

Why we get stuck

And yet, there’s a million reasons why we don’t do it. Here are the most common lies and how to completely dismantle them:

1. “I’m the expert”

We might be, but there’s always someone better who could do it

2. “I know better than anyone else how to do it”

Possibly true, but if you can learn it, can’t someone else?

3. “No one else can possibly learn how to do it”

This one is just plain offensive since it implies you’ve hired unintelligent people

4. “There’s no time to teach someone else”

Just like firing someone or becoming pregnant, is there ever a good time to take an important action? We must make time for what’s important to us.

5. “I believe I can handle everything by myself”

Except science and psychology has proven that we really can’t do it all without severely impacting our health and wellbeing.

6. “We can’t afford the talent we want or find someone with the right skills”

This may actually be true, but there’s probably plenty of people you could hire whom you could coach or train. Even then, there might be someone excellent within your budget.

There was a time I had believed most of these lies, but now that I know better, I think of this list.