The 'I'll Do It Myself' Trap: Why DIY Thinking Holds Back Non-Tech Leaders

"I'll just do it myself."

How many times have you caught yourself saying that?

I used to wear this mindset like a badge of honor. After all, isn't that what high performers do? We roll up our sleeves and get things done.

But here's the thing: that rugged individualist approach? It's holding us back.

In the old productivity paradigm, this DIY mentality made sense. We were rewarded for sheer output. At a certain point, the only way for non-technical individuals to scale was to add more "doers" - an assistant here, a project manager there.

Now? The game has changed.

We're in an era where all of us can leverage tools like Relay and Zapier to create workflows for all those minor things we used to just "do ourselves."

Think about it:

• Copying templates and customizing them for new uses
• Agenda creation and other prep work ahead of a scheduled meeting
• Consolidating next steps and creating email drafts after group meetings
• Updating CRM records with transcripts and notes from client calls
• Repurposing memos and rough notes into multiple content assets

All of these used to be "I'll just do it myself" tasks. Now they're all prime candidates for automation.

Here's the kicker: our ability to craft (or at least dictate) these workflows is where we get leverage now. And it requires a whole new skill set: articulating the steps in our everyday processes.

It's not solely about delegating to a human anymore. Gone are the days of "show, tell, model, observe, correct, monitor, augment."

Instead, it's: describe the process, prompt the workflow steps and configuration instructions, test in real time, and leave it alone until it's time to optimize it again (or you get an alert that something breaks).

This shift represents near-magical capabilities for non-technical leaders to create time freedom.

We're no longer limited by our coding skills (or lack thereof). We're limited only by our ability to think in workflows, our willingness to experiment with new tools, and the humility to feel dumb for a couple hours while we get through the learning curve.

So, how do we break free from the "I'll do it myself" trap?

1. Start small. Pick one task you do repeatedly and ask yourself: "Could this be automated?"
2. Get comfortable with imperfection. Your first automation attempt won't be perfect. That's okay. Iterate.
3. Invest time in learning. Tools like Zapier and Relay have great tutorials. Spend an hour this week exploring them.
4. Think in systems, not tasks. Instead of "how do I do this?", ask "how could this process work without me?"
5. Embrace the learning curve. Yes, it might take longer to set up an automation than to just do the task once. But think long-term.

Remember, every minute you reclaim from these small tasks is a minute you can spend on strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, or (gasp!) actually unplugging from work.

And a bunch of tiny 2-minute tasks adds up fast over the course of a day, week, month, and year.

The future belongs to leaders who can blend human insight with technological leverage.

It's time to stop doing it all yourself and start designing systems that work for you.

You can do this. What task could you automate this week?

P.S. Want to learn more about how I'm doing this? Check out my recent LinkedIn post on breaking free from delegation traps using AI.