Why is it so difficult to delegate?

Do you usually take care of EVERYTHING in your company? Do you like doing things “your way”? How many times do you say “it’s better if I do”?

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you like getting things done a certain way and you tend to carry a large number of tasks on your shoulders. You may even believe that your mission in the world is to do something, and that you are surrounded by incompetent people.

With this belief, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing everything yourself.

Doing all this is like filling a glass of water to the brim. If you try to walk around with a glass full to the brim, you’ll realize how easy it is to spill the water. Your glass has reached its maximum capacity and is about to spill.

Entrepreneurs often fill their time to the max, to the limit of their working capacity.

We all have different work capacities and it is your decision how much you should or should not work. However, when you feel tired, stressed, exhausted and realize you don’t have enough time for yourself and your family, it means your glass is on the brink, on the brink of overflowing. You are full and that is not healthy.

On the contrary, what happens if you now take another glass and empty 20% of the contents of the first into the second glass? Do you realize how much easier it is to hold the glass of water and move with it?

While it’s clear that just decanting that 20% of the water into another glass will save you time, the reality is that many entrepreneurs don’t delegate.

Why is it so difficult to delegate?

In my opinion, entrepreneurs find it difficult to delegate for the following reasons:

1. They think their tasks are too easy and not worth paying for.

2. They think they are too difficult and only they can do them

We often think that we are the only ones capable of doing a good job when it comes to our company or business. That may be true in some cases. However, the fact that you can do a task better than someone else does not mean that it makes sense to spend your time taking care of it.

Will you be able to keep up this pace of work and take care of everything over the next 2, 3, 4.5… years?

Do you think that all successful entrepreneurs do everything themselves in their business?

3. Fear of “Loss of Control”

Delegating is one of the toughest and most difficult challenges for an entrepreneur, a real litmus test, because delegating means above all “letting go”. Delegating control of a task to someone else can be daunting, but delegating responsibilities is essential if you want to get your business up and running.

4. Not knowing when to delegate

Sometimes it is difficult to decide when is the best time to delegate. In my opinion, It’s time to delegate tasks:

-You have extensive knowledge of the procedure

– There are other higher priorities that only you can take care of

-Someone Can Do The Task Faster And Better – If someone else can do the task as well or even better than you, why not let them?

-You are faced with tasks that require a specific skill or knowledge – These are tasks that require experience if the goal is to do them well. Programming websites, designing…

Maybe there’s something cheaper if you do it yourself, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your time doing it.

5. Not knowing what to delegate

The process of deciding which tasks to delegate becomes easier when you start deciding what not to delegate. exist 2 types of tasks that I think should not be delegated:

• Strategic tasks: These are those that require creativity and innovation. They are the key to your company because they enable the professional development of the company. Delegating these duties is like handing the helm of your ship to someone else and letting someone else decide the ship’s course.
• The tasks that make up your “art”: Your art is what you do and no one else does what you are passionate about. Perhaps your art is design, programming, writing, or customer service. Whatever it is, it is your essence that makes you who you are. I know a multi-million dollar business owner who is into internet marketing. He doesn’t take care of many other duties in his business, but he personally writes the emails he sends to his clients every day. He does it because that is his “art”.

The remaining tasks can potentially be delegated and these include:

• Systematized or repetitive tasks – These are tasks with pre-designed structures that just need to be monitored.
• Daily work
• Tasks you don’t have time for – These are well-defined tasks that take up a lot of your time. Maybe not routine, but moderate priority
• Tasks that involve solving problems
• Tasks you don’t like or are not good at

The purpose of delegating is to buy you time to focus on your “art” and the issues that drive your business forward. Any task that doesn’t meet either of these two criteria is delegable in my opinion, and there’s never any harm in hiring a virtual assistant.

The next step consists of Learn to delegate and get started. Delegating is a habit and like all habits, it takes practice and discipline to do well.

The next time you say, “I’ll do it,” ask yourself if it’s a strategic activity for your company or if it’s something you’re passionate about. If not, delegate it.

The important question is not whether you can do everything (maybe you can!), but whether it makes sense to use your time if you take care of everything yourself.

If you want to make the most of your time, delegating is essential. Just remember that there are often other ways to “make things right”.

I would like to know your opinion on this article What is your reason for not delegating? Do you usually delegate certain tasks? I wait for you in the comments

About the author, Rose Ortiz

Passionate about personal productivity, Rosa Ortiz is the author of the blog Como Organizar El Trabajo. It helps entrepreneurs improve their organization and productivity through its articles and recent advisory service.