I watched as Vincent dropped everything on his desk and excused himself. From the corner window, he had spotted the postal carrier bringing a bag of mail from her truck. Vincent was a senior partner in the firm and he was on his way to the reception desk to perform his daily ritual, sorting the mail. Twenty minutes later, he would return, announcing that eight clients had sent in payments that day. Sure enough, he had neatly stacked the eight envelopes for the receptionist to deliver to accounting.

Take a 3×5 card and write down three things that meet all the following criteria:

• A task that you perform repetitively.
• A task that you enjoy doing.
• A task that is important to the organization.

I often hear the refrain, “I’m not really sure what I can delegate to someone else.” So, take a look at the list. Any task that you perform on a repetitive basis is a candidate. You may have overlooked this task because it is something that you enjoy. You may have even justified this task as important to the organization. Look at the list again. What can you delegate? -TF