Last week I realised that I was actually juggling many things at once. Besides my fulltime job, I have a number of things I want to do daily, such as meditating, reading and walking. I also just started this website, volunteer at a philosophical magazine, have my own household and a fun social life. I started wondering which parts of my life I fully ‘carry’ myself, and for which parts I actually have to thank other people. Because I realised, the reason I can do all these things is because I’m pretty good at delegating.

Why you should delegate

Delegating is not only a good idea if you want to do many things in a limited amount of time (like me), but also if there are certain things you feel like you should do, but you simply hate doing (also like me). These things could put you in a negative mood, either because you’re not good at them or you simply don’t want to spend your time on them.

If you can compromise with other people, or if you can pay someone who is good at this task to do it (and if you have the financial means of course), I believe you should delegate it. Is makes life so much easier, and definitely more fun!

How to delegate at home

For my house stuff, I delegated the part I hate the most on the first day I started working my full time job. The minute I came home from that first day, I realised that I was not going to be happy working on weekdays, and then doing all the cleaning after work or on weekends. I realised I was really glad to be able to pay someone to do it for me, and it is still one of my best decisions ever.

Even if you don’t hate cleaning or see it as a small task that just needs to be done, I would seriously consider delegating it if you have the money for it. To me, not having to worry about the cleanliness of my house does not just save a lot of time in my weekends, but also a lot of space in my head. It is simply ‘not my problem’ anymore.

You can also make rules with the people you live with. For example, my fiancé and I agreed that I always do the groceries, because otherwise he will come home with too much unhealthy stuff. In return, he always takes out the paper and glass (trash), because I dislike carrying heavy stuff down the street.

We don’t mind doing our own tasks, and this way we don’t have to feel responsible for the whole household, just a part of it. I don’t know if you could call this delegating, but it definitely makes for more time in your day – especially now that you don’t have to negotiate on who does what all the time.

How to delegate at work

At work, I delegate a big amount of tasks too. I am a project manager, so in that role delegating is something that kind of comes naturally. The reason I delegate at work, however, is not always because I don’t feel like doing it myself (although sometimes – to be completely honest – that also happens) but because someone else is better at this specific task, or could do it in a shorter amount of time. Knowing your own strengths and qualities, and acknowledging those of your colleagues, is a great tool to be able to assign tasks among you.

This way, it makes sense that I do not do certain tasks (even in my own projects), because I’m simply not the one who’s best at it. Another reason to delegate is a limited amount of time. If you really don’t have the time to do a task, even if you are the right person for the job, it makes perfect sense to ask one of your colleagues to do (at least a part of) it. Don’t feel guilty about these situations, there’s only so many hours in a day.

As someone who likes to be in control, delegating is not something I have always done. When I was younger, I always wanted to do things ‘my way’ and didn’t want other peoples flaws and opinions mixed up in my work. Nowadays, I still feel like that sometimes. But I decide to only keep it close and strictly to myself when I think it’s really, really important (like this website).

When it’s something less important to me, like cleaning the house or simple tasks at work, delegating has become the only way for me to do everything I want. And in this sense, I am very grateful to have the means and people around me that make all my dreams possible.

Thank you so much for reading and let me know if you delegate in the comments!

xx Coco