Ready to delegate and reclaim your time?
/
Whenever I speak about the subject of delegating I hear about how hard it is for women to let go of the idea that they have to do it all themselves.
And I get it.
I lived that way for sooo long.
I was trapped in that thinking.
Trapped in the belief that asking for help or delegating tasks was a sign of weakness.
And my fear was amplified by my perfectionism. I believed that nobody else could do things as I would do them — or at the high standard I aimed for.
Are you caught in the trap of doing it all?
Holding a belief that you have to do it all puts you on a fast-track to exhaustion and overwhelm.
Maybe you are there already. (Sadly, I lived that way for decades.)
Whether you realize you are there, or that you are heading that way, I invite you to consider that delegating and asking for help, are options that can positively impact your day-to-day wellbeing in ways you may not even fully imagine.
Look at the origin of the story you tell yourself
I know the origin of my belief that I had to do it all myself.
My father was an immigrant who was proud that he built a new life using his intelligence and hard work. He talked about it often.
The message I got from him was that asking for help would be proof that I lacked sufficient intelligence or was unwilling to work hard enough — or both.
And thus I drove myself relentlessly.
Perhaps your belief is that you don’t feel you deserve help.
Perhaps you don’t think there are people who would help you.
Perhaps, in spite of exhaustion, you feel pride in being the person who does it all, or the person everyone turns to and counts on.
If you can spot the way your misbeliefs took hold, it may be easier to see that they are simply stories — old stories that do not serve you.
Stories that can be dropped.
It’s time to shift your thinking
The opportunity you have now is to give more to you — to give yourself more space so that you can focus more on what you need to thrive.
Envision having more rest, easily taking better care of your body, having more time with people you love, and time to enrich your spirit by doing things that bring you joy!
Hold that vision clearly. It can be the engine that enables you to make change.
Delegating changes the game
The fastest and easiest way to live so that your vision becomes reality is to lighten your load.
Now’s the time to focus on the benefits of delegating and how it will help you to be a better you.
Think about being able to make bigger contributions to everything that matters to you — in the work you do, the relationships you care about, and your ability to make the world a better place.
This will make the thought of delegating tasks, and reaching out for help, too, feel easier.
Next, think of one thing to delegate this week.
Pay close attention to anything that someone else can do faster and/or better than you! That's a great place to start.
You can delegate tasks to:
people you work with
to family members and friends
to people you hire
A great benefit of delegating — particularly at work, and also in personal relationships — is that people will become less dependent on you. The people to whom you delegate tasks get to build confidence and develop skills. It’s a win all around.
And consider who you might turn to and ask for help.
Most people love being asked to help. You might ask someone to be a sounding board for your new ideas. You can ask for help to do something around the house rather than doing it alone. Someone may be happy to pick up something for you on an errand they are doing for themselves.
As you gain more ease with delegating and reaching out for help, the benefits will become clearer and more satisfying.
The real you — the woman who creates the conditions to show up as her best self, and has the bandwidth to tap her rich creative power — will shine brightly.
We will all be the benefactors of your gifts!
