Delegation

I have a difficult time handing tasks to others because I think to do so is a de facto admission that I can't do it all. Being that I am pretty much a moron with many things, you'd think by now I'd grasp that it pays dividends to let others who have stronger giftings where I am weak to take over. No, I am cheap. That is why I tend to try to keep it in house.

Ask my wife about the grass. For several years I fought a fruitless battle against the forces of barrenness in the yard until I calculated that hiring a lawn care company pretty much costed the same as doing it myself. The lawn care company price for the fertilizer was a whole lot cheaper than my expense. Adding the company's labor, it wound up being the same cost as me buying the fertilizer at retail prices. All of that pain and anguish for naught. Do it yourself punishment.

We have decided to hire a Property Manager to work with our new tenants. This time it seems we have found a credible company, not a Property Mismanager, to do this on behalf of us rather than my trying to reason with homeboy about the veracity of penalties from late charges. You decide who was probably right...my wife, CPA/MBA or a dude who probably flunked Algebra. And was menacing on top of it. I will let someone else be my insulation for idiocy. I let him rail on for fifteen minutes and now am exacting my pound of flesh by blogging about him. So there.

My wife has also decided to hire a cleaning service once a month to do battle with the legions of dust bunnies that pour out of our HVAC vents like Orcs. I located a "Green Cleaner" who uses non-toxic cleaners. Before this, we were caught in a stalemate of me not being particularly offended by the tasks of cleaning but not noticing the mess and her being irritated by the mess but hating to clean. It was a true problem now resolved.

I think I have a talent for writing and it is downright a waste of my talent to be doing lawn care, acting as a property manager, or being a house cleaner. Delegation is just another way of saying that we hand something off so that we can put our hands to something more in line with our zone of competence. I think I am learning this lesson...the Lord is teaching me that sometimes it is more blessed to give than receive also means that we hand things over to others who just do it better than we ever can.






Comments

LDawson said…
So true! My husband and I also learned this important lesson. We too have a lawn company and cleaner so we can use our time on other things! :)
November 12, 2011 at 10:12 AM
Lina Bierker said…
Indeed your talents are much better used on this blog than on the grass!! And I love coming home to a clean house... :-)
November 13, 2011 at 5:36 PM
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