A Budget-Friendly “Outsourcing” Trick

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March 25, 2011 by CRAVE Blogger | Comments (0)

When we talk about embracing our strengths and outsourcing weaknesses, we understandably think of hiring web designers, bookkeepers and virtual assistants to help keep us focused on the meat of what we do best.

We know this. But it’s easier said than done, especially in the beginning.

How else might we *outsource* weaknesses, without actually outsourcing and paying a fee?

I do it through something I call ‘autopilot’. I gather together the things I hate to do, keep the list right of center on my peg board over my desk, and when I have to do these dreaded things that draw on my weakest abilities, I systemically action my way through them by boiling down the time I do them in, and using a timer. I try to do *outsourced* tasks in an hour or less.

In other words, I’ll make up whatever story or corner-cutting method I have to, to trick myself into getting through something I don’t like, without doing something far worse, which is to postpone a task, or hope it goes away magically.

It helps if I chunk the task down into bite size pieces.

Updating your Web site,  a potentially time-consuming task, is definitely something to tackle in chunks. I really don’t want to outsource all things to a Virtual Assistant, especially WordPress updates. Yet I really hate figuring out which widget I need to install, and altering Pages, which I have to do on a fairly regular basis. It’s not a strength of mine to figure out mechanical or technical things. Not only do I have little interest or patience for it, but it bores me a bit. I’d rather be working on a class proposal or coming up with content for a workshop.

I *outsource* this task to myself and do it at intervals, using a timer, and never attemp to bite off more than one technical project at a time.

A ‘project’ is something that could be, for some, as simple as installing a Facebook Fan Page widget on my Web site.

In fact, I auto-piloted a project just yesterday. True to form, installing the widget took longer than usual, because after installing a text box and cribbing the code from FB, it still didn’t fit in my sidebars. I had to call someone who maneuvered with me over the phone to adjust the ‘width’ of the widget to fit my page dimensions.

If we don’t figure out a way to spend the majority of time on stuff we are good at, we slowly drain our feelings of effectiveness and confidence. Our source energy lights people up AND keeps us strongly motivated, so we can’t afford to let anything take up residence in our vital spaces that isn’t predominantly a strength.

Once upon a time, some would encourage you to master your weaknesses. I’ve only ever found the opposite: Embrace strengths and *outsource* weaknesses.

Jillian J. Davis helps people define their life’s work and live it. You can find her blog and more about who she helps atwww.jillianjdavis.com.

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