To what degree do you like to control your life?

Some people prefer to do everything themselves.  Over and above their day job they may learn to manage things like their own books or taxes, repair or build what needs work around the house and are proficient enough to tackle anything IT-related.

Others, on the other hand, are comfortable staying in their lane by focusing only on their craft and hiring professionals in complementary aspects to fill in all the other blanks. Gay Hendricks, author of The Genius Zone and other pivotal reads, is one such individual who said in an interview that he doesn’t even answer his own door.

The first group is more self-sufficient and more self-reliant yet caps their time in service.  The second group protects their time for their superpower yet requires a larger team to support them on a day-to-day basis.

Are the extremes a trap?

The dangers of doing everything yourself include burnout (because there are only so many hours in a day), missed opportunities (same reason), and lack of collaboration (which might deny you doing an even better job).

The dangers of out-sourcing include missed accountability (blindly trusting others), dependency (vulnerability), and can foster a lack of confidence, self-sufficiency or freedom.

Aha! ~ You need to be capable enough to surround yourself with the right people. 

Leveraging your time through the work of others is a brilliant strategy to free you up to do what brings you income and happiness, however you need to learn enough about the craft you choose not to invest in yourself in order to hire or learn from the right people.

The time when the skill is of no personal interest is probably the time you need to understand that skill the most; enough to formulate criteria or even a series of questions that you would ask someone whose work you require.

Questions can be the likes of, “Can you tell me about a situation when something went very wrong and how you solved it?” to asking of their communication style, level of enthusiasm, support network, what they might recommend in a specific situation, what they are particularly proud of, and what questions they may have of you. If the answers align with your research and expectations, they that’s your guy. If not … next!

Check in with yourself on what is non-negotiable, that you either love to do yourself or is a special interest that bring you joy, then invest enough time learning about the other areas to ultimately free up your precious time with partners that make you shine.  And don’t be intimidated by degrees, white coats, black robes, medals or stature. In the end, they work for you.  Get your questions ready.

Human U members will learn about my half million dollar mistake in 2005 by hiring the wrong accountant.  Boy did I learn.  Join us Wednesday at 3:30 eastern for the convo.