Ask Coach: How To Give Up Control Of Tasks In My IT Solutions Provider Business

By Rich Anderson, executive coach with HTG Peer Groups

Q: How do I give up control of things I shouldn’t do anymore?

Coach: It has been said the longest journey a man will ever take is the 18 inches from his head to his heart. I think this adage has some application to your question. 

But first …

Waving Leaves.  I was on a journey that had me driving along miles of corn fields. As I thought about your question, I pictured you engaged in certain tasks, but not tasks where you uniquely provide your highest value. 

I looked at the corn. I saw standing stalks and waving leaves. Leaves blown by the breeze. Motion. Like hands at work. But that “work” was useless — just passive movement resulting from external forces (the wind).  Unseen below were the roots anchoring and sustaining the stalk. Being well rooted, the stalk will ultimately produce the highly valued ear of corn.

Your question is how to let go, how to manage your tasks. Steven Covey once said all effective task management is summed up by the phrase, “organize and execute around priorities.” That leads us back to the head to heart journey.

The Head. A good leader engages in a process of setting clear priorities. These priorities flow out of a vision (where the person wants to go) and strategies (how the person intends to get there). This process happens in the person’s head.  It is a product of the person’s brain, and logic.

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