“I wish I had a 48 hour day!” many have said to me during
the last twenty years as a professional speaker. “I’d be
able to get so much more done!”
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Of course we can’t get more than 24 hours out of each day
(assuming we don’t take time to sleep) but we can get the
equivalent through delegation when we plug into someone else’s
time stream when we don’t have the time or the expertise,
thereby multiplying our results.Here are five ways to Delegate It!
1. STAFF. If you are
fortunate to have staff, utilize this resource. You don’t have
to do it all yourself. People around you tend to rise to your
level of expectation for them. Elevate them, that’s how you
grew and got to your level. And if YOU are the staff with no one
to delegate to, to share the workload and increase your results,
think of ways to get a staff. Many high school and college
intern programs offer eager assistants, often at no cost. For
example, our local high school will provide a student to most
any legitimate for profit or non-profit organization for up to
15 hours per week during the school year to help with the
filing, running errands, photocopying, etc., to free you from
those tasks to do more productive things with your time.
2. REVERSE DELEGATION.
Often during my week, co-workers, my students, friends, and even
family members will come to me and ask for my help. I’m
flattered when that happens, that they would think enough of my
opinion to ask. The problem though is I sometimes get all caught
up in their problem and don’t have time to get the things done
I need to get done. For example, my office manager, Kathy, came
to me one afternoon, all in a tizzy because she had two clients
requesting that I conduct our time management seminar for the
same dates. Before I get all caught up in this problem I asked,
“What do you think we ought to do?” I don’t mind taking my
share of the load, but much of the time the person bringing me
the problem is just as well equipped to solve it as I am. By the
way, Kathy came up with two ways to resolve her situation so the
problem was solved, she did it, and I was free to focus on other
matters.
3. YOUR INNER CIRCLE.
Your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers are the people
who are closest to you, they love and care for you the most and
they will help you, if you’ll ask. Neighbors can pool errand
running. Children can do laundry. Co-workers will give a willing
hand. But remember the adage, “To have a friend, be a friend.”
Don’t exploit. Offer to help others first and when you need
their help, they’ll be there for you.
4. COLLEGE ASSISTANTS.
Each of us have 10-20 hours per week of minutia to attend to. We
have to go grocery shopping, dust and vacuum, mow the lawn, go
to the pharmacy and the cleaners, wash the car, and on and on.
Certainly these are important tasks that are necessary to make
our lives work and there’s nothing wrong with performing them
ourselves. All I’m suggesting is if on the one hand you feel
you do not have enough time each week to accomplish what you
really need to do, to realize your important dreams and goals,
and on the other hand, you’re spending 10-20 hours per week
doing these lower level tasks, you may have an alternative and
that is to consider hiring a college assistant for 10-20 hours
per week, delegate all these little chores to him/her and
literally buy an extra 10-20 hours per week to use more
effectively.
5. HIRED HELP. This is
similar to the college assistant idea above, only the next level
up. It’s hiring people who have specific expertise. For
example, I don’t know if it makes good sense to give up a
whole weekend every April to figure out the latest changes in
the tax code to file our tax return. Maybe it makes better sense
to go to a tax specialist, let them prepare the return, and free
up your time to those things that are more important and lacking
in your life. (I’m real good at spending your money, eh?)
If these tips were helpful, you’ll want to get your free
copy of Don’s “Top Five Time Management Mistakes”. To get
yours now, email your request for “mistakes” to: ctsem@msn.com
About the
Author:
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
is a Professional Speaker offering Time Management Seminars. If
you like to receive free Timely Time Management Tips to increase
your personal productivity, sign up now for your free “TIMELY
TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS”. Just go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement
and select “subscribe” or visit his site at http://www.balancetime.com.
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