that allows you to leverage your talent and skill and multi-
ply it timesall the people who can be given smaller parts
of the work.
You always have a choice. You can do it yourself, or you
can have someone else do it. High productivity requires that
you always think in terms of the latter approach: “Who else
can do this job rather than me?”
Delegation Is Learnable
Learn the skills of proper delegation. (I have written an
entire minibook in this series that tells you everything you
need to know to maximize your productivity through other
people.) Choose the right person to handle each task.
Provide time lines, deadlines, standards of performance,
and a review schedule.
You can also delegate problem solving and decision
making if they are among your duties and responsibilities.
You can delegate information gathering and research. You
can delegate every task that anyone else can do as well as (or
almost as well as) you.
With the skill of delegation, which is readily learnable,
there is no limit that you cannot reach in your professional
career. But without the ability to delegate efficiently and
well, you will always end up with too much to do and too lit-
tle time. You will end up doing too many things of low value
or no value. You will never get caught up and on top of your
job. And this can hurt your career.
60 TIME MANAGEMENT