The health benefits of delegating and outsourcing
As a small business owner, I’m sure you’ve heard that there are a number of benefits to delegating and outsourcing. These include freeing up your time and helping you be more productive. But what about your health – what are the health benefits that delegation and outsourcing bring?
If you’ve ever wondered how delegating and outsourcing affects your health, here’s a quick rundown of those main benefits.
Delegating and outsourcing reduces your stress and anxiety levels
If you’re constantly busy at work, you’ll be stressed. You’ll also increase those stress levels if you have a neverending to-do list. It can feel like you just don’t have enough time in a day to get it all done.
It’s the same with anxiety. Being a solo small business owner often means you’re putting yourself under enormous pressure to get everything right. There’s anxiety around needing to learn and know everything you need, to run your business well.
When you outsource some of those tasks off your to-do list, you’re not only reducing the amount of work you have to do, you’re also freeing up your mind and dropping the worry, anxiety and responsibility of needing to get it all done yourself.
You can finally stop struggling with Superman/Superwoman syndrome
When you run your own business it can be difficult to understand that you don’t have to do it all yourself. If you struggle with handing tasks over to someone else, you could be suffering from Superman/Superwoman syndrome. This is where you’re telling yourself a story that implies you either need to do everything yourself because there’s no support or help available or you feel that in order for a job to be done well, you have to do it yourself.
This often makes you a workaholic and will further increase your stress and anxiety levels, as well as decreasing your likelihood of being able to sleep well and switch off from work.
When you start delegating and outsourcing, you’re reminding yourself that it can be quite empowering to outsource to others. It’s also a good way to gently build up your levels of trust and confidence in other people – so you can see that others are able to do the job as well (if not better) than you.
Delegating and outsourcing help you feel less alone in business
Working for yourself can get quite lonely. If you live alone you can often go weeks without seeing anyone and this can be demotivating and demoralising. But it can be hard to go without daily human interaction, a byproduct of working as part of a team. The small talk with colleagues, having someone to turn to when you’re unsure or concerned, and even the background hum of a busy office.
Delegating and outsourcing can help you see that there is support available to you. It can serve to remind you you’re not alone. You feel part of a team and it gives you another person to talk to, someone who understands your business as well as having experience of running their own.
The health benefits of delegating and outsourcing can have a huge impact on your overall business success. When you start taking tasks off your own plate and passing them over to someone else, you’re lowering your stress and anxiety and the need to do it all yourself.
But as an additional side benefit, you’re also giving yourself another big bonus – a better night’s sleep. Getting adequate sleep will not only help you feel more motivated and focused, but it’s also a great way to ensure your physical and mental health are at their optimum levels – and you’re in a good place to be the best person to steer your business towards success.
Image courtesy of pressmaster/DepositPhotos.com
