How to Delegate and Overcome the Fear of Sharing Tasks

​How many times have you uttered the words, “it’s easier if I just do it myself.”

We’ve all been there, whether it’s something as simple as helping your child get dressed in the morning when they’re refusing to do it themselves or writing a new blog post for your website because the idea of handing the task to someone else is a little terrifying.

There are usually two main reasons people choose not to delegate:

“I can do it myself. I don’t need any help.” – Translation: “I don’t want anyone to think I can’t manage. I don’t want to feel like a failure.”

“I’d rather do it myself.” – Translation: “What if they get it wrong?”

Both are understandable mindsets, and trust me, as a business owner and especially as a Virtual Assistant who’s used to being delegated to, I still find it difficult to let go of certain tasks and responsibilities to someone else.

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”

– Jessica Jackley, businesswoman

​The trouble is, these fears are going to cause you issues in the long run because you can’t do everything yourself. Any small business be it an online shop, service-based business or an author business, can’t survive with just one person handling every little thing.

You’ll quickly find that your time is stretched too thin, you’re constantly moving tasks back a day, a week, a month and you’ll feel yourself becoming more exhausted as the long hours, sleepless nights and weekends spent working instead of relaxing take their toll.

That’s not even the worst part. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you could fall out of love with your business, losing all that passion and motivation that got you started.

So, how do you overcome those fears?

It’s time to change your mindset. Instead of thinking that you’re failing by not managing everything yourself, realise that you’re giving your business (and yourself) room to grow, with more time and effort spent on developing your business.

And if you’re still worried about handing tasks over to someone who isn’t capable, the solution is relatively simple:

1. Do your research - look at different businesses/freelancers to see what they offer and don’t take just their word for it, look at their client testimonials.
2. Trial and error – choose a small task, something that you can check over before it ever reaches your customers and delegate it on a trial basis. If the business/person you’ve chosen does a good job, great! If not, try the same task on someone else. Just keep the task small to ensure your initial costs stay low while you decide who’s a good fit for you.  

Now, what are you waiting for? Start clearing out that to-do list and make room for your business and yourself!