Who’s Job Is It?

Success Is Not A Solo Endeavor

In fact, most, if not all the successful people in the world will tell you that they had help along the way. Let’s be realistic, there will be tasks on your list that you are not equipped to do yourself, as well as tasks you simply do not have time or inclination to do.

Either way these tasks can be delegated to others. Who is going to do them?

Let’s go back to the list you created in an earlier element. It could be 50, 100 or more different items. Of all the items on the list, which are you going to do?

You control your input, You control your actions. You can improve upon what you do and how you do it.

Go through your list and decide which items you are going to take responsibility for. On the right hand side of the list page write the word “YOU” next to the items you are personally going to complete yourself.

This is just the start. You’ll now create two separate lists out of this single list. List number one will contain all the items you are going to complete. List number two will contain all the items that will be completed by others.

Justify Your List

Before you create the two lists, there’s one more step you must complete… your list needs to be justified. I’m quite sure your list of items will be much too long and you’ll probably have listed yourself to take responsibility for most of the items.

Many people, myself included, automatically put themselves in charge of too many tasks. You do it because you’re either accustomed to doing things yourself or you feel that no one can do a better or more effective job than you.

I am guilty of that. Believe me, it’s not easy to change, but I’m getting better and am now more comfortable having other people do tasks. Breaking free of this limiting belief will help you accomplish much more.

Here’s how you justify the list of items assigned to you. From the original list, look at each item that has “you” written after it. Ask yourself… “am I the best qualified person?” The answer is either “yes” or “no”.

If the answer is “yes”, put the item on your new “YOU” list.

If the answer is “no”, the item goes on list number two for others to do.

What you are really doing here is forcing yourself to either admit you’re a control freak or make you realize that there is someone else who can do this more effectively than you can.

Keep in mind there will be times where you may not be the most qualified person in the world to do it, but circumstances dictate that you need to do it anyway. Circumstances such as lack of money may force you to do it, or parts of it, yourself.

Maybe it’s personal information or private accounting information that you can’t turn over to other people. Make sure you don’t use this as an out to keep from delegating, just be aware that the situation could arise.

Someone Else

If you’re not the one who’s best at doing it, the item goes on the second list. The question now becomes, “who’s best at doing this?” Right now, you may not know.

Let’s say you know exactly who the right person is for a particular item. The first thing I ask myself is, “do I know this person (or “how well do I know this person”)? If the answer is “no” (or “not well”) the second question becomes, “who do I know that knows this person?”

I’ll ask all my friends and acquaintances if they know anyone that could make an introduction for me. If the answer is still “no”, I may ask if they know of anyone who knows the person. Here’s where the “Six degrees Of Separation” concept comes into play.

Eventually I’ll find someone who knows someone that can make an introduction for me.

All this stems from first creating your list. This aspect of creating the list is extremely important because it enables you to make the most use of your time and find the best people to do the tasks you outsource.

Let’s use “exercise” as an example.

While you have to do the actual physical exercise, you may need a personal trainer to help you achieve the results you want. At this time you don’t know who you want as a personal trainer but you know you need to find someone. You may have to research in order to find one.

The question now is, “should you put the research on your list of things to do or should it be assigned to someone else”? That question can be answered by asking this question, “Am I the best person to do this?”

Once you determine who will do the tasks (that you don’t do) write their name next to each of the items, on the second list, that they will do. If you have some items that you have not yet found people for just write, “someone else” next to it.

This is important because you need to understand what resources you have going for you at this particular point in time. This is actually a collection of your resources for the project. Meaning, who’s going to do it? Am I going to be doing this task? Okay great. If not, who is?

As you’re going through your list you’re thinking, “okay, Johnny is going to do this and Suzie’s going to do that and “whoever” is going to do this. You may have some idea about who’s going to do each task right of the bat. That’s great! But in some cases you’re not going to know, and it’s OK to leave them blank.