Is it time to tame your to-do list?
This is the second of a three-part series about how to tame your to-do list.
When you get overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, here is a trick to tame your to-do list.
Within your list of things to do, there are some things you can delegate. I call that the YOU-do list. In other words, somebody else can do it!
Sometimes it can be really hard for us to figure out how to delegate – especially if we are independent, a little controlling, genuinely interested in doing the work ourselves, or anxious about asking for help.
Guilt and anxiety are the two most common factors that keep us from delegating.
When we need to figure out our way forward a lot of times we look for the right answers, but we have to start with the right questions.
I’ve got a couple of coaching questions for you because a few of you have been asking me, “how can I become a better delegator?”
First, I want you to ask “what are the things that others can do that I insist on doing?”
This could be as simple as a task that you just keep doing in your job that you just don’t need to do. The fact that you keep doing it is keeping someone else from learning how to do it.
The same can be true with your children! You’re doing things for them that they can start doing for themselves. When you give them the opportunity of responsibility, it actually opens up space for you to just breathe or get other things done or maybe relax for a minute. And your kids get to feel proud of their accomplishments.
You simply have to overcome the anxiety that they will not do it as well as you would. You know what? It’s ok! If they do it eighty percent as well or sixty percent as well as you, that’s fine.
So ask yourself what is it that others could do that you insist on doing yourself. Make a list of those things, because in order to be most effective in your life you need to be able to delegate.
To be a good leader, you do the things that only you can do, but you delegate everything else. If you are wasting your time doing things that others could be doing, then you are wasting time that could be spent on your unique giftings.
Remember that you are the only mother, or spouse, or partner, the only person who can do what you can uniquely do. Don’t waste your time doing the things anyone can do if you can delegate those things to someone else.
Ask yourself, “Who needs to be on my YOU-do list?”
Who do you keep letting off the hook because you are doing something for them that they could be doing for themselves?
Figuring out your YOU-do list is really about you getting clarity that in order to have more space and margin in your life, you’re going to have to let go of some things. You’re going to have to delegate more, and you’re going to have to push through those feelings of anxiety or even guilt so that you can do it this is a powerful way.
If you have been reading this email and thinking that there is someone in your life who could really use this message, you may consider yourself a coach to others. If you’ve ever considered coaching as a skill for your own resilience or as a leadership skill for you to help others reach their potential, I want you to check out the Coach Training Intensive (CTI) at the CaPP Institute.
We do the Coach Training Intensive (CTI) four times a year, and we have another one coming up! We’ve trained coaches from every state in the United States and 27 countries around the world; we do it live virtually.
I think you’ll love it so be sure to check it out, and in the meantime I want you to do some delegating. Take out that to-do list and tame it by creating a YOU-do list, and then sit back and enjoy the extra time you’re going to reclaim by having the courage to delegate.
Coach Yourself:
What is it that ONLY YOU can do?
Who is on your YOU-do list?
What could you do with more margin in your schedule?
