Prioritizing Your Time: What to Take on and What to Hand Off

I read some interesting advice from a successful founder, Chieh Huang of Boxed, in the May issue of Inc. magazine.

When asked how he prioritizes his time he responded, “If you think of it like a Venn diagram, anything that you’re really good at that overlaps with what you’re really passionate about – those things you should do all day long, because they’re good for you and the company. The next bucket is anything that you’re good at but that you don’t really enjoy. For the good of the company, you should continue doing those tasks. The toughest bucket is stuff you enjoy but you’re not really good at. Those things you need to hand off.”

Ahh, the hand-off. Huang’s thoughtful interview reminded me of successful clients whose self-described need for control (read: micromanagement) often overpowered the desire to delegate. Owning the idea that you’re not really "good at something," saying it out loud, and acting on it, is part of leading and learning in any environment, be it in a start-up, a corporate setting, a nonprofit or so many others.

And it worked for Huang, an entrepreneur who took his company from his garage to NY Stock Exchange bell in less than 10 years. He seems to have embraced the unknown and the opportunity to learn more. Huang spoke of the value of finding trusted advisors and mentors who helped get him through the challenges. He said, “I feel like I’m learning something new every hour of every day.… Ringing the bell at the stock exchange, I felt like I could take over the world, but the reality was we had to be back at work an hour later.”