Develop your delegating skills

10 tips to keep from doing it all yourself
Here are some tips to help you become an expert at delegating, so that you can accomplish everything on your "to do" list and still free up time to do the things that really matter.

1. Examine your schedule. Make a list of activities, prioritize, and then look at whether anything can be eliminated.

2. Make a list of all the people who can help. Consider family members, friends and neighbours who could perhaps share car-pooling and babysitting responsibilities.

3. Have regular family meetings and assign tasks to your spouse and/or children. Annette Bot says that "If you continue to be the person who does it all, then others won't see the need to help."

4. Ask yourself: Do I have to do this? Who else could do this? Who wants to do this? Who has time to do this? Who is best suited to do this? How can I clearly describe the task?

5. Offer positive reinforcement to those who help you by remembering to say thank you and to compliment someone on their strengths.

6. Learn new skills and ways of doing things from those who help you.

7. Reward those who help you with something that is special to them. Cook your spouse's favourite meal if he does the grocery shopping or other task.

8. Write out tasks such as laundry, dishes, walking the dog, vacuuming, dusting, etc., and have family members draw from a hat. This makes delegating more fun and inviting.

9. Clearly define roles and expectations. Talk to people around you who can potentially be of some help in a task and ask them what their strengths and weaknesses are. This will help you to assign appropriate roles and expectations.

10. At work, ask a colleague to be your "delegating" partner and act as your conscience by asking you if you have divided the work and delegated it on a regular basis.

Some may find it easier to delegate at the office. This may be because roles and job descriptions are generally well defined. Others may find that because of a dependency on a spouse or children, they are comfortable asking for their help.

Whatever the situation, once you've mastered the skill of delegating you'll see that it's an effective time-management tool that encourages teamwork, develops a closer pool of family and friends, and liberates you to enjoy a healthy, balanced lifestyle.