How to Delegate if You’re an Overachieving Perfectionist!
How To Delegate If You’re an Overachieving Perfectionist!
Unlock the power of effective delegation and achieve more with less stress.
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You have big dreams for your business. You can imagine so vividly where you want to be in 5 years. When you close your eyes, where are you? Will you direct a robust staff, packing and shipping your artisan products? Or are you a coach that wants to be booked with back-to-back appointments? Maybe you are at home, updating your website about your latest vacation or recipe. There are no right or wrong answers here.
Ever since the day I started my business, I have had the same vision in mind. I am holding a meeting in a board room with my team. I own a small, private university in a boutique building with a gorgeous modern designed interior. It’s a Monday, and we are discussing the projects due for the week. This is what I picture when I close my eyes.
I am standing at the head of a long conference table. My team briefs me on projections as we work together to create solutions to stay on track. We then split up the projects so that no one feels too overwhelmed.
As much as I love this dream, it scares me. While I would love to build and scale a massive empire, the idea of letting go of the reigns makes me anxious. Not having control of every tiny aspect makes me nervous. How can I trust someone to make judgment calls on the projects I am so invested in? How will they know what choice I would make without asking me?
I’m nervous that no one will complete the projects to my expectations. I have high standards and very specific visions of how I want things completed. Will anyone get it enough to deliver exactly what I want without me hovering over them?
Does this sound familiar to you? I know I’m not the only overachieving perfectionist around here. There are millions of us, and we are running ourselves into the ground chasing our dreams. Whatever your aspirations are, I know you can do it. All you need is a solid plan and to not burn yourself out in the meantime.
Yes, I went there. I know exactly how you operate. You just want to get one more thing done before you wrap things up for the day. Your to-do list is a mile long, and you constantly add to it.
You have somehow led yourself to believe you can just hang in there and get your business launched and profitable before you burn out. So you continue on, day in and day out. Minding the kids, working your 9-5, cooking dinner, and doing the laundry while stealing precious seconds to grow your side hustle.
Finally, in the wee morning hours, you fall into bed exhausted. But instead of sleeping, you close your eyes, mentally construct your to-do list for tomorrow, and wait for your alarm to go off.
You are overworked, unappreciated, and under an immense amount of pressure. This is how things feel every day, and it seems like everyone is constantly piling more on you. Your children never pick up after themselves. The bathroom is a mess, and their laundry is all over. All that keeps you pushing through is that visualization of your future.
What do you do when you sit down to write your to-do list, and each entry you write down is simply: everything!
I know this struggle all too well because it was me. I had way too many balls in the air, and life was constantly piling on more. I didn’t know how to delegate effectively. I thought I was the only one that could do things the way I wanted them done.
That’s the real problem. If you ask someone else to do it, they won’t complete the task up to your standards. You know you will hover over them until they get annoyed or just do it yourself.
This has always been one of my biggest problems. I have an exact picture of what the finished product should look like. Anything outside of that vision is uncomfortable. I especially don’t want to discuss the results not meeting my standards.
Hello, my name is Teryl, and I am an overachieving perfectionist. I have the feeling that you are too. That is why we need to stick together.
Not everyone is going to fully understand or appreciate our drive. How we have such an aching desire to succeed and see constant progress. But that is the exact reason why we are so prone to burnout.
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What is Burnout, and Why Does it Matter?
Burnout is when you run yourself into the ground by piling on too many responsibilities. It is a product of constant overwork and stress, usually work-related. It’s characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and the feeling of diminished professional ability. Burnout and overwhelm can manifest in unexpected ways. You might notice that you get stressed quickly or lack the motivation to start or finish projects. These are likely symptoms of burnout.
Engaging in self-care can sometimes help with burnout. Often, what you really need is to rest and step away from your stressors. This article will discuss how to avoid burnout by relaxing control of the reigns and letting someone help you with your tasks.
How to Delegate Effectively
Delegating is simply allowing someone to complete a task on your behalf. If you are a perfectionist, this might feel like you are relinquishing control, but it doesn’t have to be. There are ways that you can share some of your workloads and still retain control of a project. You can also learn how to delegate more trivial tasks, so you have more time and energy to focus on the important ones.
In these steps, we will discuss finding a level at which you are comfortable accepting help. We will also discuss some coping mechanisms for the anxiety so that you will feel better about giving up this power. In saying that, this article is not a replacement for therapy. If you have severe anxiety, I urge you to check your local resources for clinical support.
Start off by organizing your obligations.
List out all of the tasks you have to get done this week. As you do this, consider whether this is a reasonable workload for a single person. I mean, at some point, you will have to sleep, eat, and take care of other basic needs. When you look at this list, do you get overwhelmed?
Having a to-do list that is way too long will set you up for failure. This, in turn, causes stress, leading to burnout and a lack of motivation. Eventually, it becomes harder and harder to muster the enthusiasm to do any task, pushing you further behind.
In this way, you are setting yourself up for failure. The entrepreneurship grind is challenging enough without sabotaging yourself. But if we can enlist some help, we increase the chances of completing everything successfully.
As you make your list, write down all the steps for each task you juggle. If you have to deal with your emails, don’t just write “emails”; actually break them up.
For example:
Sort through emails & delete unwanted ones.
Unsubscribe from junk mail.
Respond to emails.
Send follow-ups to customers/clients.
Onboard new customers/clients
Check the spam folder.
Next, write down how often you need to complete this task and the expected time you spend beside it.
For example:
Sort through emails & delete unwanted (daily) (30 minutes)
Respond to emails (daily) (1 hour)
Check the spam folder (weekly) (5 minutes)
Once you have done this for your entire to-do list, tally up how long these responsibilities will take you. If you need, you can redistribute time amongst each item as long as you are realistic about the expectations.
Finally, assign each item on your list to a day of the week. Schedule it to an appointed time on your weekly spread if it is a daily item. Don’t underestimate the importance of setting an appointment for each task you must complete. It will help to make it more likely that they will get attention.
Next, we prioritize each task.
Review your list of duties for each day of the week. Is this really a reasonable workload for a single person? If you have assigned time to each task you have to perform and scheduled them throughout the week, you know what your schedule will look like.
I find this exercise to be extremely helpful for me personally. I often have a to-do list a mile long. Once I do this exercise, I know there is simply not enough time in the week to perform all these tasks. It really helps me realize that I either need to find help with some items or drop some expectations.
The solopreneur life is a delicate 3 sided balance. You have time on one side, money on another, and quality on the third. You can probably get many things done, but you spend two and sacrifice the third, OR you can outsource.
As you go through your task list, give each item a score on a scale of 1 to 10:
1 = a thing that anyone could do with their eyes closed.
10 = I am the only person on the entire planet with the know-how and expertise to complete this task.
I am betting that very few items will actually be a 10.
In our above example, responding to emails will probably be a 10, especially if you are a perfectionist. However, anyone can sift through and delete a spam folder or onboard a client using a pre-written template.
I know, I know, you don’t want anyone to have access to your email account. That’s okay. This is just an example, but you will encounter several less invasive 2 and 3-level tasks as you continue down the list.
Another example could be a blog post. If you have an outline for your blog post with specific instructions, could someone write the draft for you? That would save you about 2 hours of writing. This way, you can still edit it to ensure it is precisely what you want it to be without sacrificing an entire day to write it.
Go through your list and pick out the projects you love.
Are there specific tasks that bring you joy? Me, I love working with clients and writing my blog posts. These things actually bring me enjoyment, and I look forward to doing them.
What tasks do you absolutely love doing? If you could fill your entire day just doing the things you love, go through, and put a heart next to them.
Don’t put a heart next to the entire duty, just the specific task you like. Maybe you love engaging on Instagram, but you just don’t have an eye for photography. Coming up with the posts is a drawn-out, anxiety-ridden process. Or, maybe you love researching your blog posts but hate writing them. It’s okay to just enjoy a part of the job.
We often feel guilty for not embracing every aspect of entrepreneurship. This is an unrealistic expectation that is only going to hold you back. Don’t feel like you are ungrateful just because you don’t enjoy one piece of the puzzle.
Instead, realize that you are fortunate to be in a position where you can focus your efforts on the elements you really love. Then you can create a plan to take care of the areas you don’t. Learning how to delegate is essential to this. Outsourcing tasks that take too long or that you don’t enjoy can help you spend more time and energy focusing your efforts where you are most efficient.
What are the tasks that you hate doing?
These are items that make you procrastinate. You probably sigh as you head into this part of your day and just white-knuckle it until you’re done. These tasks can be anything that’s outside of your comfort zone.
If you have difficulty creating pictures and graphics for your Instagram, put a star next to that task. If you get a ton of anxiety writing the draft for that blog post, put a star next to that task too.
What we are doing here is looking for opportunities where we can seek help. By delegating some of the tasks we despise, we can focus our time and attention on doing the things we love while ensuring quality all around.
Where are the gaps in your knowledge?
Is there a process you are muddling through but know you are not great at? For me, it was video editing. When I started Absolutely Studying, I knew there would be a video element.
I wanted to provide tutorials to struggling students, and having a visual element would be vital. The problem was I didn’t know how to edit videos, had no equipment, and was camera-shy.
When I started editing, it would take me about 10 hours to finish a 15-minute video. I knew this was not sustainable. I also realized that this would have to be the first thing I outsourced.
Is there anything like this in your business? It may not be to the same extent, but you get the idea. A task that you are just inexperienced in or underconfident with that you know someone else might already have the skillset to take it over. This is the best place to learn how to delegate. It will be easier for someone with experience to get a better quality outcome than you could, given the same amount of time.
Try contracting out these tasks instead of hiring.
When you are just starting out as a solopreneur, it’s unimaginable to pay a salary to someone just to edit videos or respond to emails. Especially when you are a perfectionist and prefer to do most tasks yourself.
You don’t have the time or the money to supervise someone who is essentially doing nothing for most of the day. You would probably just spend your time micromanaging them and watching every step they take.
With the introduction of services like Fiverr, you can easily contract temps to do simple tasks for reasonable amounts of money. For as little as $5.00, you can have someone create graphics or write a blog post. But there are some pros and cons.
First, you have to understand that you get what you pay for. Ratings are crucial on Fiverr. Many contractors will go above and beyond to get a good review. But you still have to be wary of “too good to be true” offers.
Still, $5 is a safe gamble to get a few things done. Even if your first $5 blog post does not work out, try out some other contractors. You will find one that can give you a great draft to work with. Especially if you are clear on what you want from the onset.
You can then take that draft and upgrade it to your standards. Fill in some length, update the tone, and have a great post that fits your page. Not to mention it took you half the time!
What part of a task are you ready to delegate?
Baby steps are key for perfectionists like us. If there is even one tiny aspect of a job you want to let go of, start there. Allow someone to build trust by completing the task to your standards.
Remember, asking someone to take care of something is not a lifetime commitment. If they mess up, you will never have to ask them to do anything for you again. As long as you give them a small task and not something vital to the reputation of your business, you can always bounce back after reviewing their work.
Perfectionists like us often see things as life or death, but this is rarely true. Beginning the journey to learning how to delegate is a turbulent one. We get so nervous that we will have to completely redo someone else’s work because it won’t live up to our standards that we just push through it all.
Meanwhile, we’re not giving anyone a chance to actually learn what our standards are. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Allow someone to make the mistakes so you can correct them. Then they can dazzle you.
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Is there something more important you could be doing?
This is the big one. Is there something more important that you could be doing? Something that actually brings in money or builds relationships? You can focus more on these tasks by learning how to delegate.
If you sell your handcrafted items or offer one-on-one services, you can’t multitask. Creating social media graphics will then fall down on your priority list. Those items require your full attention and bring in the resources that keep the lights on.
As the CEO, your time is valuable and should be focused on tasks that grow or scale your business. There are so many things to be done that picking the most important jobs that further your growth is what you should be focused on.
As an entrepreneur, our time is money. Even when we scale our business, our time must be focused on our company’s most valuable and high-level activities. Focusing on small tasks others can undertake is literally pouring money down the drain. You have to learn how to delegate effectively.
Even as an overachieving perfectionist, you can find help that will live up to your high standards. All they need is the opportunity to learn our expectations and to rise to them.
Don’t be afraid to connect with new contractors until you find one in sync with your style and vision. Take care in training and nurturing good help once you find it. Once you have found someone you work well with, keep them close and treat them like gold.
If you are in the launch phase, don’t forget to pick up my Ultimate Business Checklist. This goal-oriented plan will help you set and achieve milestones to launching your profitable online business. Download it here.
I want to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.