It’s probably not a modern thing. Decisions have likely always been part of human life. We certainly have it a lot easier in a lot of ways today when it comes to decisions. But there are a lot of decisions to be made. Large and small. And that can lead to decision fatigue.
When it comes to work it’s important to figure out the proper way to delegate. If you don’t you can set yourself on the path to burnout. And you may not even realize it’s happening until it’s too late. You say yes to one thing. Then another. You don’t take anything away. People are asking things of you. Small at first and then larger.
You can see how burnout happens. Here are a few thoughts on delegating more decisions.
1. Assess Your Current Slate
You have to schedule time to examine your daily routine. I recommend doing this anyway about every six months. Starting with tomorrow if you haven’t done it ever or in a long while. You can simply think through what you did yesterday. From the moment you woke up until the moment you feel that you feel asleep.
Personal and work. It’s likely that today wasn’t an outlier either. The exact unusual situation may have been unique, but you probably have unique situations come up often. Plan for unique situations not necessarily knowing what it will be exactly.
From deciding what to wear and what to eat to deciding a new vendor at work or what to watch on Netflix, they’re all decisions that require your brain to work. You need to know where you to be able to figure out how you can make a change.
2. Cut Out Low Value Decisions
Once you have a list of what you’re doing you can start cutting out the ones you value least. The famous story is that Steve Jobs didn’t value fashion. He wore the same thing every day because he didn’t want to use any brain power on the decision.
You can do that in just about any aspect of your life. But focus on the ones that are least valuable to you. Fashion may be important. Perhaps food isn’t. Maybe you respond to a lot of emails at work that don’t really need responses. Or maybe you can delegate that task.
But it starts with really cutting the low value decisions.
3. Document How You Make Certain Decisions
In order to delegate you have to trust that others can make similar or better decisions than you. There are many ways this could be accomplished, but a good start is to document how you make the decision. Look for the how’s and the why’s. Look at the exact steps.
You’re trying to give the process to someone else so they can follow it. That’s where you want to start. But after that leave it open to some testing. The other person may be able to make better decisions and come with new ideas. They may not work, but at least be open to it.
Delegation can often be an improvement over the way you do things now.
4. Assign and Test With New Decision Makers
A big part of delegation is letting go of control. That’s not always easy. You have to be willing to often take a step backwards in order to ultimately get on the right track. Someone will probably let you down at some point and you’ll have to find someone else.
So determine the process. Assign someone the task. Work with them to give them what they need to succeed. Test it. Make adjustments. Odds are good that it will quickly work out to your liking.
Conclusion
If you’re feeling burnout then it’s likely that you’re making too many decisions. It could be for a number of other reasons, but the decision making likely plays a part. It’s at least a starting point for figuring out how to reshape your life. Follow the steps here and get working in the right direction. Most people that do more delegation often wonder why they didn’t do it sooner.