Why Value-Neutral Tasks Are Hurting You More Than You'd Think

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The Good Stuff ??

Standard advice goes like this:

1. Do what you’re great at
2. Outsource/hire for what you’re bad at

It’s simple enough. But what about everything in between?

I call these Value-Neutral Tasks (VNT).

VNTs are massive productivity killers, as they usually hide in plain sight. Have you ever seen something in your business and thought, “Oh, I’ll just fix this quickly because I can.” More times than not, that’s a VNT.

It’s the equivalent of a pilot pushing the drink cart down the aisle of a plane. Could they? Of course. Would they be good at it? Probably not, as they wouldn’t have the customer service tact/training that attendants do. Would everyone be better off if the pilot was flying the plane?

You get the point.

Although that example is extreme. Here are a few that I’ve encountered myself:

1. Bookkeeping — I’m value-neutral, teetering on bad. I did this for years in my business because it ”only took me a few hours” per month. The truth is (i) it cost me plenty of hours when I had to go back and fix errors and (ii) potentially thousands of dollars as I’m not a professional accountant.
2. Graphic Design — I can use Adobe products, but I realized that when I would open a design tool, I was doing a VNT. We have professional designers on staff, and my mediocre designs (which take me twice as long to do) shouldn’t see the light of day.

How do you identify VNTs in your work?

They usually come in a few forms:

? Something you did in your previous position/younger years

? A task you think is helping the team because you can do it quickly (but you then hamper their growth)

? A task you haven’t resourced for on your team

How do you avoid doing them?

Make rules, and stick to them. For example, I took Adobe products off my computer, and if I catch myself logging expenses in our accounting system, I know it’s time for me to do something else.

Where does the feeling of ‘needing’ to do the task come from?

In short: a need to feel in control.

Our want to be in control can come from a large source of issues. From anxiety that work won’t get done unless we do it to fear of losing self-worth if we delegate tasks to others.

Remember, when you get these feelings, these tasks aren’t helping you toward your end goal.

What's a value-neutral task you're doing that you can delegate? Let me know below!