At Virtual BizNest we highly emphasize the effectiveness of delegation in improving business owners’ lives and their bottom line. Effective delegation streamlines their workflow, allows them to concentrate on the important matters at hand and their true strengths, while their Virtual Assistants handle the rest of the tedious tasks. However, for busy entrepreneurs who delegate to Virtual Assistants and have room to breathe, once they sit down and start focusing on what they do best, they might find themselves wondering: “what DO I do best?” To focus on your strengths and unique abilities you need to know what they are in the first place. Don’t worry, though, VBN is here to help you figure that out!
Find Your Unique Ability And Optimize Your Work Schedule
Dan Sullivan, founder of The Strategic Coach business coaching company, found that most successful people have learned to focus on their unique talents, building on these to overcome whatever weaknesses they have. His term for this is “Unique Ability” and by zeroing on this, entrepreneurs can maximize their passions and abilities. They can also have a better idea as to which activities aren’t really as worthwhile and could be delegated to Virtual Assistants or other staff.
A Unique Ability is something you excel at and enjoys doing. So you are not just doing something you are effective at, but also something that brings joy day in and day out. Because there are things you are good at that you might not enjoy, that might drain you, and it might not be sustainable or fulfilling to continue performing these on a regular basis. This isn’t just about avoiding unpleasant work, since shifting focus to what one really enjoys will let you feel energized and the result of putting passion into your work will speak for itself. The positivity, creativity and quality of output will be undisputable.
Triangulating Your Unique Ability
Sullivan’s process for determining Unique Ability can be surmised as follows:
Recording and Classifying Tasks
Itemize all the work tasks you go through on a daily basis and chart how long you spend on it. How many hours do you spend checking emails, corresponding with clients or customers, finicking with apps and programs, resolving technical difficulties and so on.
Next, these have to be rated according to degrees of Passion and Talent. How passionate are you about each of these tasks, likewise how much talent is required to perform them successfully.
The Unique Ability
This is what brings out high passion and high talent. With these, you are utilizing your skill to the max in fulfilling these roles. You are darn good at them. Moreover, these do not feel like a chore, they do not drain you, you feel great doing them. Because of this, you can continuously handle this task and progressively develop your skills, getting better and better.
Other classification of tasks include:
High talent but low passion tasks, so you are great at handling these and perhaps you might be the only one who can do them right, churning out outstanding results. But you lack passion in doing these things, they don’t excite you and they might even feel like chores.
High passion but low talent tasks are the converse of this. These are things that interest you or excite you… but you might not be good at them – yet! While you can focus your time and energy on the roles you are truly effective in, these high passion but low talent tasks could be honed over time. After all, you are passionate about them so you can try improving. After all, people grow and they can always develop new skills. You don’t have to have just one Unique Ability.
On the other hand, there are low passion AND low talent tasks. These are things you should just drop, as you really don’t like them and are not good at them at all, plus you have no interest in them. These are what you delegate to Virtual Assistants who can do them better.
So Delegate Away
After sorting out your tasks, you now have a list of what you are doing well, what you enjoy, as well as what you don’t do well and don’t enjoy. So now you know what you need a hand in. This is how entrepreneurs can stop wasting time. Moreover, for the tasks that you have high talent but low passion in, your competence in these will make it easier for you to train someone else in fulfilling them. This knowledge will help you delegate to Virtual Assistants or Virtual Teams, as well as prepare yourself for your new and more streamlined workflow centered on your Unique Ability!
