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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that when you outsource, you're still a resource.
You can't check something entirely off your list, even if you hire someone else to do it.
You still have to do a little management and supervision.
So it's best to focus on how you are saving 90 of the time you would have spent on a task rather than get frustrated about the 10 that likely won't go away.
Longtime listeners know that I advocate outsourcing lots of things.
Often, a manageable amount of money can free up a good bit of time.
Rather than spending your weekends cleaning or running errands, you can spend them hanging out with your family.
At work, rather than handling every detail, you hire a team to specialize and you provide direction.
Even for folks who work for themselves, having an in-person or virtual assistant can be quite helpful.
Here's the thing, though.
When you outsource a task that would otherwise fall to you and that actually needs to get done, you won't be able to let it go completely.
You will need to have some level of involvement.
It will just be way less involvement than when you are handling the task directly.
People are much happier when they focus on the reduction, rather than the small amount, of lingering mental load.
So, for instance, you might like to imagine that having house cleaners come every week means that you won't ever have to spend time cleaning your house again.
But that is not entirely true.
At the beginning, you will need to show the cleaners around the house and let them know how you like things.
Some weeks you might need to ask for some area to get extra attention, really spiffing up the guest room, for instance, because company is coming.
You'll probably wind up picking up things before the cleaners come, so anything small and important doesn't inadvertently get put in the wrong spot.
You will need to tell the cleaners when you are canceling a week because you are on vacation or moving the time because you're having a party at the exact moment the cleaners usually come.
If you get the same team every week, my guess is you will want to build a relationship with these people to the extent that it is possible.
So they will tell you if they see anything out of the ordinary.
Now you know about that small leak in the bathroom a week earlier than you would have.
And, of course, if the cleaners are cleaning your kitchen on Wednesday, that really just doesn't do your dishes on Saturday.
So even if your house cleaners do almost everything, you can't check house cleaning off your list completely.
You will be a lot less annoyed by the little things you have to do when you remember that fact.
Likewise, as convenient as grocery delivery can be, someone still has to order and put away the groceries.
You might also want to check your bags to ensure you received what you ordered.
That means fewer unpleasant surprises when it's time to cook dinner.
And if you're hiring a full-time staff member at work, you probably can't just hand this person a job description and assume everything listed will get done exactly as you want without you lifting a finger.
If you hire a direct report to support your work and take on some things you've done yourself, you still need to be a resource.
You may not have to perform the work yourself anymore, but supervising and supporting your direct reports does require time and attention.
Nothing else.
You want to keep these people happy.
This concept of still needing to do some work, even if you have offloaded a lot even comes into play with the idea of passive income.
You probably can't get any category of work in your life down to absolute zero.
I maintain that there aren't a whole lot of truly passive forms of income out there.
I get royalty checks from books I wrote 15 years ago.
But that is because I am still out here in the world talking about time management all the time.
Even dividends and interest require bookkeeping and making sure your accountant has the right forms.
Most forms of so-called passive income require way more work than that.
If you have a rental property, even if you use a property management company, you will need to make sure that they get paid and you'll need to check in occasionally to see that they are doing a good job.
If you've got a website where people can pay for virtual courses, even if you've already made the courses, you'll need to check that the website is still working as it's supposed to.
And if the search engines change their algorithms, you will need to update things too.
So it goes.
If you were hoping to spend 100% of your hours on leisure, this would all be really annoying.
But when you recognize that the reduction in time is large, you can choose to focus on that.
There is no free lunch.
There are very few instances in life where you can get something done and have nothing required of you.
So when a little bit is required of you and a lot is done by someone else, best not to resent the little you have to do.
If you have made wise choices and trained people well, it probably will be just a little after a while, which is a lovely thing indeed.
What have you outsourced successfully?
You can let me know at laura.com.
At LauraVanderkam.com.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at LauraVanderkam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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It invites us back home to ourselves.
I'm Mike Della Rocha, host of Sacred Lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal.
This year we're talking honestly about mental health relationships and the patterns we're ready to release.
If you're looking for clarity, connection and healthier ways to show up in your life, Sacred Lessons is here for you.
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Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
