I recently ran across the following saying: “Focus on your Strengths and Delegate your Weaknesses”. Super simple I know, but it actually flashed me back to the fact that this was one of those profound life lessons that took me many years to apply to my own life.
I was raised by a very strong mom who was determined to “do it all” and I was set on following in her foot steps…until I hit a wall. The diagnosis was Fibromyalgia but, in hindsight, it was my body and brain saying…ENOUGH!! You simply can’t stay up late until all the laundry is done, get up early to get your kids on the bus, cook and clean for a family of 5, volunteer for tons of kid’s activities, never miss any of your children’s sporting events AND then add in buying and operating a business that’s open nearly every day!!!
Something had to give and it did!! My body was riddled with pain and my brain was extremely anxious and depressed. I was buying a business and then not even being able to run it or teach classes. I even struggled during that time to take care of my 3 daughters.
Fast forward 25 years…That was 1997/98…and what I have I learned???? So so much! When I read the above saying today, I realized that it summed up my journey perfectly. “Focus on your Strengths and Delegate your Weaknesses.” I was not capable of “doing it all.” No matter how strong I thought I was. Something had to give. I had to come to the realization that being strong actually meant having the strength to delegate. Looking back, I realize my strengths were the things that I was passionate about or that I felt like I was good at: raising 3 daughters, running a successful business and cultivating friendships. And the things that got in my way of doing so, I handed off to someone else. For example, at home top on the list of my “weaknesses” was cooking and cleaning. They were just no longer my favorites, but still felt like they were my responsibility. Eventually I learned to let those things go. (I agreed to that housekeeper Dave had been encouraging me to get and learned a lot about local restaurants and take out.)
When it came to running BL, I decided that trying to teach a class, run the front desk and answer the phone was just not smart or realistic. (Seriously this was a real thing!! ) So I hired some bodies to help me run the front desk and eventually ended up surrounding myself with a great staff who were better at a lot of the logistics of BL than I was. This freed me up to do more of what I loved and was passionate about and allowed me the space to create and grow this business.
I bring this to your attention today because I know my story will resonate with many of you. Especially during this busy time of year, I thought it might be a good reminder to take a hard look at what we really love doing? What are the parts of our lives that really bring us joy? What are our strengths? What areas can we identify as our weaknesses? Or, perhaps we refer to them as just areas that drag us down, make life feel heavy and overwhelming, and things we just don’t like doing. Of course the clincher is…can we be strong enough to let those things or tasks go…and can we delegate them to someone else.
Just a little food for thought as we bump up against this busy holiday season and land in a New Year!!
Cheers to being strong enough to know it’s not about “doing it all” ourselves! And taking some time to reflect on what is it that YOU need to Delegate??
