Do you feel you DO NOT have enough TIME to do and accomplish all you desire?
Do you feel you DO NOT have enough TIME to get just what needs to be done completed?
Is your focus in life like a flashlight or a laser?
If you answered YES you need to explore delegating and outsourcing. Some of you are already conjuring in your mind reasons why you can’t outsource. You might be thinking you shouldn’t delegate or outsource because,
“I don’t have the money.”
“Nobody can do what I do.”
“I love what I do.”
These are all excuses designed to keep you in your comfort zone or “in control.” We want to invite you to reframe your views on delegating and outsourcing.
Key Concept #1 - TIME VALUE.
Time is the MOST valuable resource we have. There is no exception to this. Time is the one thing where we are absolutely equal. We all have 24 hours in a day.
“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin
Time moves forward at a rate of 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day and 7 days per week … week after week.
EXERCISE:
Imagine you woke up with $86,400 in your bank account. What would you do if you knew:
You HAVE to spend ALL of it today.
You receive another $86,400 tomorrow.
Any money you don’t spend at the end of that day is taken away from you.
Each day you receive $86,400 that you must spend and which will be replaced the next day. This process goes on for years. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you be with?
The answers to those questions tell you what is truly important to you. Now, think about how you currently spend your time. Really understand not only the activities you are performing but the actual implications of those activities. Ask yourself these questions:
Am I spending more time doing what I love or doing what I am required to do?
Am I getting my dreams accomplished or am I whittling away at someone else’s dream?
Who am I spending most of my time with; loved ones or acquaintances?
It’s likely that the things you love, your dreams, and your loved ones are getting the short end of the stick. You have EXACTLY 86,400 second in each day. It is deposited into your “life bank” each day and must be spent in full. You will receive another 86,400 seconds tomorrow and any time you do not use is gone. This process repeats day, after day, after day until you die.
You are trading your greatest commodity for whatever you spend each day doing. Could you be spending your time on more valuable activities?
Key Concept #2 - LEVERAGING TIME.
You will find that leveraging your time through delegating and outsourcing is empowering for you. What most people don’t realize is that this process is empowering for those helping leverage your time too.
Remember your list of activities you chose if you were receiving $86,400 per day? Well, those activities are what you might want to consider spending your time on. Anything else should be outsourced or delegated to others! Nick recently had an interesting experience relating to this subject. He tells the story below:
Recently, I was in Curacao. One evening, we were enjoying amazing food at a local restaurant and our table was right on the beach. It was a great view as the sun was setting. Due to a recent experience, the conversation of terminal illness came up (I know it’s somber but it’s true).
I made the statement, “If I ever had a terminal illness, I wouldn’t want the doctor to tell me that it was terminal and give me a time prediction.” I had my reasons, which are not important for this segment.
“Wouldn’t you want to know so that you could stop whatever you were doing and go on a nice vacation or something and really enjoy your last months, years, etc?” was the reply I received.
The view and the weather were so incredible there was no doubt it was much better than Philadelphia in November. Then it hit me … I was looking forward to returning. Why? I had not brought my current projects, which I am passionate about, and not all of the people I loved were there. I thought for a short time more about it.
“If I knew tomorrow was my last day, I would choose to create my day the EXACT same way I create everyday already; location is not important. Regardless of where I was at the time, I would wake up, spend time with those I love, work on a few of my projects, and enjoy all of the things I am grateful for in my life because that is what I love and that is why I do these things each day.”
Do you feel like you would need to know if you had a terminal illness so that you could do the things you have always wanted to do? That could be a clue to if you truly feel you are spending your time on that which you value most.
In order to best leverage your time by utilizing other people’s passions and purpose you’ll first want to understand your own. You’ll want to know who you want to BE, what you want to DO, and what you want to HAVE. Does this sound familiar?
Key Concept #3 - LET GO & LET SOMEONE ELSE!
Once you know who you want to BE start matching your actions to that and soon you are spending your time doing what you love. Anything that involves activities that you do not love should raise some questions. Yes, we understand there are many things in life that have to get done; someone has to do them. We are inviting you to explore the concept that the “SOMEONE” does not have to be YOU!
We often hear people say, especially our entrepreneurial friends, “In the time it takes me to explain it, I could have it done!” One of the many problems with this is that the next time it needs to be done, guess who is doing it?
DELEGATING & OUTSOURCING:
Write out your daily routine for an entire week. Then categorize each activity by whether you love doing it or not. On a blank sheet of paper, write Delegating & Outsourcing. On this paper, list everything you do that is NOT something you love. If you are like most people this list is longer than the things you love doing and that’s okay. Once you understand HOW to outsource your life will get far more fulfilling.
Delegating and Outsourcing are ways of life!
Delegating and outsourcing means having laser focus on what you love and allowing others to do the rest. In our own lives, we have had a good partnership because each of us has activities that we love and others that we don’t. Delegating, even amongst partners rather than employees, is of extreme importance.
How about outsourcing? There are many ways to outsource. You can hire an assistant part-time or full-time locally. A concept that is becoming very popular is VA or Virtual Assistant also known as REA or Remote Executive Assistant. VAs/REAs can do virtually anything including but is not limited to:
Calendar Management – appointments, tasks, deadlines, family events, etc.
Home Assistance - remodeling projects, ordering parts/products, paying bills, etc.
Purchases – cars, clothes, food goods, gifts, electronics, anything online, etc.
Travel – best rates, book flights, hotels, rentals, itineraries, plan trips, etc.
Secretarial – emails, document creation, electronic backups, online research, etc.
Database Management – data entry, inventory tracking, shipping, billing, etc.
Customer Interaction Management – customer service, tech support, etc.
Personal – bill paying, restaurant reservations, personal communication, etc.
Business – accounting, websites, transcription, programming, paralegal, etc.
Outsourcing is a way of life and most of us do it already but we don’t see it as outsourcing. Many people pay an accountant to do their taxes.
Within any community there is more than likely a vast array of local assistants, VA’s, and REA’s ready and willing to assist in your life. If you decide to go with a VA or REA, there are some things you should consider. As you start to outsource, you should START SMALL and be VERY SPECIFIC in your requirements. Always start small and test your VA or REA.
OUTSOURCING RESOURECES:
If you are looking into an array projects over a period of time and/or prefer US based assistants, you should look into www.virtualassistantindustry.com. They produce high quality work and are great people to work with.
If you are looking for inexpensive but quality outsourcing for both personal and business needs, www.GetFriday.com could be of service to you. They have a team atmosphere so although you have your primary assistant, there is a team backing them up to get your needs met.
This virtual assistance world is here to assist and YOUR world is better for it. Learning how to delegate and outsource will literally change your life. Imagine the ripple that will make in your life, and the ones you love.
To get more free lessons on business, success, finance, and human potential go to http://LifeAbundanceInfo.com