What was to be my blog (last week…) was about my big lesson.  “You can’t do everything on your own – get a team.”

If I’d stuck to my timetable and not tried to do something I shouldn’t, I would not have had so many wasted hours that were unprofitable.  I would also have posted this blog last week!!

Don’t try and do everything yourself.  Yes, you can save money but sometimes your time is more valuable.  Praise yourself for what you can do and forget the rest.  You’ll only beat yourself up when you can’t get the desired result doing something outside of your skill set.  It’s fun for a challenge sometimes, but this is business and you can have fun later.

I’m hopeless. (One of those things I need to work on in my personal improvement arena is my perfectionism and the resulting need to do everything myself – I need to relinquish control).   Like many others, I’m also trying to save money, there have been a few very big ticket items come in around the home in the last little while and I need to be a little careful.

So, I’ve been running around willy nilly in the last few weeks thinking I am superwoman.  It has messed up my own timeplan and wasted many hours.  I also have to remember that things don’t need to be perfect, so long as they do the trick (still in a neat and professional manner) it is more important to take action that to wait.  Trust me, it is true.  Studies show that perfectionists are more likely to be underachievers because nothing is ever good enough so they wait for it to be perfect and never actually take action.  Now you know my weakspot.  It also leads to procrastination (but I’ll talk about that another time).

It is enough to be Mom, Dad, partner, boss, secretary, taxi driver, cleaner etc. etc. without having to be master of professions outside your core skill set.  If the activity is not directly related to what you do to create income or to caring for your family – get someone else to do it.  None of us can be a pro at everything.  I specialise in some fantastic things, but need to remember when I do not specialise, to stop penny pinching or being a control freak and get someone that knows what they are doing in to help.

We all need help and it is nothing to be ashamed about or worried about.    Learn to work with others, delegate and give up a little.  In the long run with the right people doing the right tasks the end result is much better.

P.S.  I’m not talking about a huge staff, especially if you are a one woman/ man show.  Just have the right people and resources available so you can get help, pose a question and get advice when you need it.  Tweet your query… Post it on Facebook…  You’ll be surprised at who is out there and will be delighted to help you.

Moral to this story:
Get a team (friends, associates, paid service providers).  You can’t do everything yourself.  Something as simple as getting a neighbour’s teenager to mow the lawn for a few dollars can save you a couple of hours per fortnight that can be better spent in another way.  Getting someone else to build your website will give you hours free to make real headway on your articles, product or direct marketing. (I should heed my own advice – lol)

ACTION:
Think about it a little – see what you can delegate to someone else – business or personal and give yourself some time for something more important.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Business Advice, General Content, Time Management, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.