What if you could create more Time?

Time is Our Most Valuable Asset

Once we've used time for something, it's gone forever, and we can't make more of it. But what if you could buy more of it? We do it all the time when we hire people or work in a team and apply our combined superpowers.

Time is money, per Benjamin Franklin, but money can also buy us time.

The Power of Delegation

So, what tools do we have to buy other people's time to achieve our own goals? And how do we do this in a way that's a win-win for all, not shirking responsibility or, worse, exploiting others?

First, let's agree that earning money isn't a healthy purpose for doing work. Money isn't the goal, but it can help achieve your goals.

Introducing the Development Matrix

I'd like to introduce a framework that helps identify work you can delegate to empower others. This can be applied to personal goals, but let's focus on the professional aspect.

List all the work you do over 90 days—a quarter. Identify at least 10 items where you spend most of your time. This should feel similar to OKRs. I keep my OKRs to about 3-4 Objectives with 3-4 Key Results each, totaling about 12-13 items. This aligns with the 13 weeks in a quarter, assuming each priority takes up to a week of work.

Ranking Your Tasks

1. Rank by Enjoyment: List your 10 to 15 tasks and rank them by how much you enjoy doing them. Consider the energy you get from each task.
2. Rank by Output Quality: Rank these tasks again by the quality of the output. Be honest about how well you are maximizing the result of each task, regardless of your competency.

Creating the Development Matrix

Create a graph with "energy" on the horizontal axis and "outcome" on the vertical axis. This matrix reveals:

• Development Quadrant (Bottom Left): New and exciting tasks that you are learning and improving at.
• Performance Quadrant (Top Left): Tasks you excel at and enjoy.
• Delegate Quadrant (Top Right): Tasks you do well but drain your energy. These are prime for delegation.
• Fixing Quadrant (Bottom Right): Tasks that drain you and lower performance over time. Aim to keep this quadrant empty.

Applying the Framework

This matrix helps you find opportunities to delegate work that doesn't utilize your superpowers. It aligns tasks with others' strengths, turning delegation into a growth opportunity for them.

Conclusion

As you review your OKRs for the next quarter, consider who can best handle each task. Delegate effectively to allow everyone to perform at their best, leveraging their superpowers and developing new ones.

For more examples and tools, visit The Development Matrix.

By thinking "Who not How," as Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy advocate, you recruit experts before spending time and energy on tasks that aren't the best use of your abilities. Delegate to the right people, train them, and invest in their growth and success.