By Todd Duncan

Before cell phones were commonplace, Harry attended one of our events and strategically claimed a seat near the back doors of the conference hall to ensure he was the first person to the pay phone during the breaks. His strategy worked and he spent most if not all of the down time between sessions on the phone with prospects and customers. He couldn’t spare a moment. Time was money.

Then, according to Harry, it was in a “blinding flash of the obvious” that his liberation came. As the morbid truths of workaholism were being discussed from stage, he realized that his obsessive-compulsive behavior had put him on the fast track to career atrophy. Not only that, he’d been grossly wasting his resources.

When he returned to work, he immediately determined what he could delegate to the team he already had in place. There were four of them, self-dubbed “Team Gordon,” and they quickly jumped in to help.

For a week, Harry asked them to shadow him throughout the day in order to learn the ropes. It wasn’t much longer before all four could handle every task that might arise.

Today, Team Gordon essentially runs the ship. They keep Harry apprised of necessary information by way of Monday morning meetings while he focuses on building deeper relationships with their customers. This simple responsibility affords him a relatively stress-free forty-hour-a-week job that grosses about one hundred million dollars a year in sales—a 400 percent increase from his preliberation total. That’s what is called maxing your potential without taxing your life.

Lesson Summary

The mistake that Harry was making is a common one: he was convinced he was the best person for every part of his job. Unless your business runs itself, that is almost never the case. In most industries, you have one major responsibility and several minor ones. The problem is that the more responsibilities you have, the less productive you become. The flip side should be your goal. Take on less responsibility and see more productivity.

If you’re willing to take the time to train someone comprehensively, it will be worth your effort in the long run.

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