You Can Do It Yourself – But Should You?

My son is six months old, and being the overachiever he is, is already crawling. My husband and I hired a baby-proofing consultant to come to our house and tell us what we needed to do to each room so that Jonah does not choke, fall, get electrocuted, or pull a piece of furniture down on his head. At the end of the first visit, we had a list 50 items long.

Now if taken individually, we could probably do the suggested safety improvements ourselves. For example, it will take about 5 minutes to install a latch on a cabinet. Maybe 10 minutes to put cord wraps on the windows. Probably an hour or so to buy a gate, and another few hours to figure out how to screw it in without ruining our nice wood paneling.

Should my husband and I attempt to wade into unchartered waters and spend an agida-filled weekend ignoring our son while clumsily shopping and maneuvering small pieces of hardware so that we can save a few bucks? Or is it worth it to pay Larry the baby-proofing consultant a fee of $1000+ to procure all of the materials and install everything with the knowledge, handiwork, and efficiency of someone who has been doing this for 18 years.

At work, there were will be tasks that you are good at, and tasks that you have substantial experience completing. And then there will be those things that technically you could do yourself, but perhaps your time and energy would be better spent elsewhere. Even if it pains you, maybe it’s time to think about delegating tasks that someone with a different skill-set or at a different level is better equipped to handle. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day, and if you insist on completing every assignment that comes your way, you simply won’t have time for the things that are important and will make your life and career more fulfilling in the long run.

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