Make yourself replaceable

Make sure other people can do what you do

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to make yourself replaceable. When other people can
do what you do, you have the freedom to do

(00:25):
other things, at least for a little while. Today's tip
comes partly from Jenny Blake's book Free Time. Jenny writes
about how to lose the busy work and love your business.
Many small business owners work incredibly long hours because they
need to do everything. It can be a recipe for burnout.

(00:49):
Even people in big businesses can wind up taking on
a lot when no one else knows exactly what they do.
A simple long weekend becomes problematic because long term projects
grind to a halt when the person isn't there. I'd
add that we can feel this way about our home
lives as well. If you do everything and no one

(01:13):
else seems to know how to do anything, you feel trapped.
You can't take a break because everything falls apart. You
get more and more exhausted. So Jennie Blake recommends thinking
about the Fiji test. The idea is that if any
team member were to get whisked off to a three

(01:36):
week surprise vacation in Fiji, with no devices and no
ability to give notice. Could the rest of the team
seamlessly step in and take over the role. My guess
is that for many of us the answer is no,
and we might not worry about this too much because

(01:56):
no fairy godmother is going to whisk us to Fiji,
and yet we might encounter various less lovely situations than
the Fiji test. We are mortal, and any of us
could wind up in the hospital for weeks or worse.
So Jenny recommends that each person works toward making themselves

(02:18):
replaceable every day. One of the best ways to do
this is to document common processes, get granular on the
steps so that someone else reasonably competent could step in
and do them. Then you might figure out who else
could do this stepping in on various rolls. Sometimes this

(02:42):
is obvious. For my Best of Both Worlds podcast. When
I am out of commission, my co host Sarah can
do everything about the show start to finish on her own,
as can I if she is unavailable. It's a little
trickier for something like a solo show before breakfast, though.

(03:04):
One way to make yourself replaceable is to work ahead.
I record about three weeks ahead of time, so if
I were whisked off to Fiji, you wouldn't know about
it until I got back. If you work closely with people,
you want to make sure that people are empowered to
make decisions about smaller things that do not truly require

(03:26):
your input. Likewise, you should get to know what they
do so you can make some small decisions as well.
What is true for work is also true on the
home front. If you were suddenly unable to do any
of your home responsibilities and you live with other people,

(03:46):
would things still work. Perhaps there are some efficiencies gained
by one partner mostly knowing how the home routine works
and one partner concentrating their efforts in the workplace. But
when mom gets sick, oh boy, both parties should know
enough that the other party could travel somewhere and the

(04:07):
kids would still get to school, get fed, get bathed,
and so forth. This is all common sense, and yet
many of us resist it. We resist learning our colleagues
or partner's tasks because we're busy, or we resist teaching
other people what we do because sometimes it can feel

(04:31):
like a source of power. You are the one the
client wants to talk to and that feels good, except
you are going to be the one the client wants
to talk to even when you're on the beach in Fiji.
That is more of an issue. And even if you
never plan to go to Fiji, you could be the

(04:53):
one the client wants to talk with while you are
in the ICU and that would be a big problem.
So aim to make yourself replaceable. I mean, you aren't
really replaceable in terms of being a unique human being.
Everyone is, but it is a gift to those around

(05:15):
us to have our homes and businesses function even when
we aren't there. This takes time, but it is well
worth doing in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(05:43):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled

(06:06):
out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
look forward to staying in Touch Before Breakfast is a
production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
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