Sure. I ended up killing about a paragraph on this subject in my original post.
The basic default to getting anything done is, “I do it.” There are always delegable tasks, but even in unfamiliar harder situations I’ll consult others then do it myself. A corollary of this is, “Own all of your own results.” If you delegate a task, and that task is done badly, view it as your fault—you didn’t ask the right question, or the person was untrained, or the person was the wrong person to ask.
If you do the hard thing that needs doing, it will be easier to do that thing next time, and you’ll develop expertise. Doing the work yourself does not mean going without advice; people who have been there before can be very helpful (sometimes as object lessons in what not to do.)
Can you elaborate on that one?
Sure. I ended up killing about a paragraph on this subject in my original post.
The basic default to getting anything done is, “I do it.” There are always delegable tasks, but even in unfamiliar harder situations I’ll consult others then do it myself. A corollary of this is, “Own all of your own results.” If you delegate a task, and that task is done badly, view it as your fault—you didn’t ask the right question, or the person was untrained, or the person was the wrong person to ask.
If you do the hard thing that needs doing, it will be easier to do that thing next time, and you’ll develop expertise. Doing the work yourself does not mean going without advice; people who have been there before can be very helpful (sometimes as object lessons in what not to do.)
Hope that’s helpful.
Would it be fair to say you prefer self-sufficiency over delegation whenever it’s reasonable?
Yes.