Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make yourself replaceable. When other people can
Speaker 1: do what you do, you have the freedom to do
Speaker 1: other things, at least for a little while. Today's tip
Speaker 1: comes partly from Jenny Blake's book Free Time. Jenny writes
Speaker 1: about how to lose the busy work and love your business.
Speaker 1: Many small business owners work incredibly long hours because they
Speaker 1: need to do everything. It can be a recipe for burnout.
Speaker 1: Even people in big businesses can wind up taking on
Speaker 1: a lot when no one else knows exactly what they do.
Speaker 1: A simple long weekend becomes problematic because long term projects
Speaker 1: grind to a halt when the person isn't there. I'd
Speaker 1: add that we can feel this way about our home
Speaker 1: lives as well. If you do everything and no one
Speaker 1: else seems to know how to do anything, you feel trapped.
Speaker 1: You can't take a break because everything falls apart. You
Speaker 1: get more and more exhausted. So Jennie Blake recommends thinking
Speaker 1: about the Fiji test. The idea is that if any
Speaker 1: team member were to get whisked off to a three
Speaker 1: week surprise vacation in Fiji, with no devices and no
Speaker 1: ability to give notice. Could the rest of the team
Speaker 1: seamlessly step in and take over the role. My guess
Speaker 1: is that for many of us the answer is no,
Speaker 1: and we might not worry about this too much because
Speaker 1: no fairy godmother is going to whisk us to Fiji,
Speaker 1: and yet we might encounter various less lovely situations than
Speaker 1: the Fiji test. We are mortal, and any of us
Speaker 1: could wind up in the hospital for weeks or worse.
Speaker 1: So Jenny recommends that each person works toward making themselves
Speaker 1: replaceable every day. One of the best ways to do
Speaker 1: this is to document common processes, get granular on the
Speaker 1: steps so that someone else reasonably competent could step in
Speaker 1: and do them. Then you might figure out who else
Speaker 1: could do this stepping in on various rolls. Sometimes this
Speaker 1: is obvious. For my Best of Both Worlds podcast. When
Speaker 1: I am out of commission, my co host Sarah can
Speaker 1: do everything about the show start to finish on her own,
Speaker 1: as can I if she is unavailable. It's a little
Speaker 1: trickier for something like a solo show before breakfast, though.
Speaker 1: One way to make yourself replaceable is to work ahead.
Speaker 1: I record about three weeks ahead of time, so if
Speaker 1: I were whisked off to Fiji, you wouldn't know about
Speaker 1: it until I got back. If you work closely with people,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that people are empowered to
Speaker 1: make decisions about smaller things that do not truly require
Speaker 1: your input. Likewise, you should get to know what they
Speaker 1: do so you can make some small decisions as well.
Speaker 1: What is true for work is also true on the
Speaker 1: home front. If you were suddenly unable to do any
Speaker 1: of your home responsibilities and you live with other people,
Speaker 1: would things still work. Perhaps there are some efficiencies gained
Speaker 1: by one partner mostly knowing how the home routine works
Speaker 1: and one partner concentrating their efforts in the workplace. But
Speaker 1: when mom gets sick, oh boy, both parties should know
Speaker 1: enough that the other party could travel somewhere and the
Speaker 1: kids would still get to school, get fed, get bathed,
Speaker 1: and so forth. This is all common sense, and yet
Speaker 1: many of us resist it. We resist learning our colleagues
Speaker 1: or partner's tasks because we're busy, or we resist teaching
Speaker 1: other people what we do because sometimes it can feel
Speaker 1: like a source of power. You are the one the
Speaker 1: client wants to talk to and that feels good, except
Speaker 1: you are going to be the one the client wants
Speaker 1: to talk to even when you're on the beach in Fiji.
Speaker 1: That is more of an issue. And even if you
Speaker 1: never plan to go to Fiji, you could be the
Speaker 1: one the client wants to talk with while you are
Speaker 1: in the ICU and that would be a big problem.
Speaker 1: So aim to make yourself replaceable. I mean, you aren't
Speaker 1: really replaceable in terms of being a unique human being.
Speaker 1: Everyone is, but it is a gift to those around
Speaker 1: us to have our homes and businesses function even when
Speaker 1: we aren't there. This takes time, but it is well
Speaker 1: worth doing in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in Touch Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.