What does time management and National No Housework Day have in common? Excellent question – the answer in a moment, I promise.
But first, humor me and take a look at your to-do list. Are you looking forward to completing the tasks on your list?
Same thing with your project list. Are you jazzed by the thought of completing those projects?
If not – consider delegating. Delegating is a great time management strategy. I’ve posted about this before. But, did you realize that delegating can also be a great emotional management strategy.
How grumpy do you get when you are faced with yet one more task you don’t enjoy doing?
You can’t possibly complete every item on your list – nor should you! So be strategic about where you spend your time.
Ask yourself
- “Am I the only person who can do this task?”
- “Am I the best person to do this task?”
- “Is my time best spent doing this task?”
- “Do I enjoy doing this task?”
If the answer is no – delegate the task.
[newsletter-sign-up-form]According to Robert Maddux, there are Six Levels of Delegation. One of the strategies I encourage my clients to employ is to identify their comfort level and the amount of control they wish to maintain. Then, clearly communicate these expectations with the delegatee. (is that even a word?)
The levels range from
- Level I – Look into the situation, get all the facts, and report back for instructions
to
- Level III – Examine the matter, send word on what you intend to do, take no action until you get the go-ahead.
to
- Level VI – Take action – no further communication is necessary. The assumption is that it’s been handled.
Obviously, if the person you’ve delegated the task to is thinking you are delegating at a Level VI and you are actually delegating at a Level I – and vice versa – chaos will reign. (Trust me – I’ve been on both ends of this miscommunication – it is NOT pretty!)
However, with a little preplanning and clear communication – delegating can be a great strategy to reduce the number of tasks and projects on your list that you don’t love. (And yes – as a bonus – you can create additional blocks of time in your schedule to do MORE things you love!)
You are in control, you make the choices.
Choose to do activities that jazz you.
Oh – what does this post on delegating have to do with National NO Housework Day? Come on – really?! You can’t guess the next task I’m going to delegate?
How do you decide which tasks to work on and which tasks to delegate? Fill in the blank – today I’m going to celebrate National No ________ Day! Please post below!
image provided by Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net
I simply love the no housework day and smart delegation on a regular basis will help out the other 364 days of the year.
Agreed, Chantea, agreed! Becoming a master delegator can be so freeing! Thanks for your comment!
Lisa
I love delegating housework so that I have time to enjoy other tasks such as writing!
Valerie – YEAH! Another like minded individual! Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa
Great reminder Lisa!
“How do you decide which tasks to work on and which tasks to delegate?”
The first thing that comes to mind is reminding my self what I excel at, what I know how to do, what I suck at, what I plain don’t like to do, what I don’t know how to do and would learning how to do it be an efficient way of utilizing my time vs delegating.
Now I just need to remind myself of this more often, thanks again for the reminder! Nice job! :-)
Debbie – thanks for your comment! I agree – work on what you excel at AND what you love (sometimes you can excel at something, but not love it!) and then delegate the rest!
Lisa