The Illusory Comfort of "I'll Just Do It Myself"

It happened again on Tuesday. I caught myself opening an internal spreadsheet to fix a minor formatting error. It would have taken me 45 seconds to fix. Instead, I stopped, closed the tab, and sent a quick Loom video to my team.

As founders, our biggest addiction isn't work—it's control.

We tell ourselves, "It’s faster if I just do it myself." And in the micro-moment, it is. But that 45-second fix is a lie. When you multiply it by the twenty other "quick fixes" you do throughout the day, you’ve just sacrificed hours of your high-leverage strategic time to do $15-an-hour administrative tasks.

Worse, you’ve robbed your team of the chance to own the outcome.

Every time you step in to solve a minor problem, you train your team to rely on you as the ultimate bottleneck. True freedom doesn't come from having all the answers; it comes from building an environment where your team doesn't need to ask you for them.

This week's challenge: The next time you mutter the words "I'll just handle it real quick," freeze. Record yourself doing it once, pass it off, and buy back your piece of mind.