Doing Less
Earlier this week, I sent an email about one of the best decisions I’ve made recently…I hired an executive assistant. We’ve been working together for three months and I’m not sure what took me so long to make this decision. Actually, I do.
For the last last six years, I have been building, from scratch, a food company that is now a multi-seven-figure business while raising three children in one of the most expensive cities in the world all while counting my coins very carefully and saving for my future in the process. Allocating additional resources to anything that was not connected to my children or my business’ direct and immediate benefit has not been a priority.
But, as the saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In this analogy, mommy is the tide and the boats are all the people in her reach. When mommy is good, we’re all good.
Zadie and I at Color Factory during one of our Board Meetings, which have been hard to schedule. But, last week my EA has helped me find time in my calendar for this super special time with each of the kids.
Over the course of my entrepreneurial journey, I have learned that access to and autonomy of how I use my time is one of my most valuable assets. As a mother, it can feel like full autonomy of your time is nearly impossible. And as a working mother, forget it. But, here’s the thing…you get more time to do what you want to or need to be doing when you delegate redundant tasks to someone else. Your brain space frees up and so does your calendar.
No one gets a cookie for doing everything.
In fact, we should be giving out cookies to those of us who are delegating tasks that are holding us back from focusing on the most important things in our lives like quality time with our children, friends, and family; professional and personal development; exercise; career advancement and just being plain ole’ present.
Here's a recent screen grab of what my EA has been working on this past week. In our three months of work together, she has helped me plan birthday parties for my kids, scheduled our doctor's appointments, helped me research large and small topics to support my business, reorganized all five of my inboxes, and literally so much more.
Doing laundry, making doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, applying for passports and renewing driver’s licenses, researching summer camps, researching doctors that take your insurance, scheduling hangout time with friends are THE biggest time sucks and clutter the brain from all the high return on investment activities listed above.
As I shared in my email earlier this week, I know that everyone is not in the mindset, financial position, or season of life to hire an EA. However, each and everyone of us is in a position to get something off our plate by delegating it, especially if you’re a parent.
Here’s a framework that the firm I worked with to find my EA shared in one of their recent emails. It’s called CLEAR delegation. Check it out. Sometimes we don’t want to delegate something because we feel like the person we’re delegating to won’t get it right. And sometimes that’s the case. But sometimes we weren’t clear in our delivery in the first place. Delegation takes practice. The only way to get good at it is by doing it over and over again.
I hope you take a moment to think about all the things that you are doing to keep your boats afloat and pick one thing to remove so that your tide rises.
You’re already doing so much and no one gets a cookie for being a martyr.
If you feel like you’re not living up to your role as a parent by asking for help, please read Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu. She’s a mother, entrepreneur, and one of my Harlem neighbors!
If you are looking for support in transitioning out of a ton of tasks that are draining you (ahem, work) or you, too, are building a company from scratch, I’d love to chat to see if working together makes sense.
With love as always,
Petrushka
Your Local Ice Cream Lady & Life/Business Coach
---
Save the date for the SHMOM Spring picnic. We will send a new link closer to the time to get a more accurate RSVP. Our next round of SHMOMS starts on March 14th. Tell a neighbor or a friend.