October 20, 2026 | Issue Archive​

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Why You're Still Doing It Yourself

It might not be a time problem. It might be a belief you haven't questioned.

At the end of my keynotes, I've been asking one question:

What's one ending you're now considering that you weren't before today?

One of the biggest themes I hear from leaders is the struggle to let go and delegate.

The same answer keeps coming back, in different words:

"Doing everything myself."

"Doing too much myself."

"Ending my tendency to take things on myself that I can delegate or restructure."

And I get it. Because this is something I wrestle with, too.

We know the advice. We know we can't do everything ourselves. We know that letting go would free us up to focus on what matters most.

So why is it still so hard?

Because we can't always delegate our way past a belief we haven't questioned.

Here's a familiar one:

"If I want it done right, I have to do it myself."

That belief may have helped build our careers. It made us reliable, the ones who catch what everyone else misses. It helped get us here.

Now it might be the ceiling.

Think about it. Every hour we spend on work someone else could do is an hour we don't spend on the work only we can do. Every task we hold onto is a lesson someone else never gets to learn. And every "I'll just do it" can teach the people around us to wait for us.

Sometimes it really is about quality, capacity, or trust.

But sometimes, it's about identity.

We've spent years being the people who get things done. What happens when we no longer need to be those people?

So what if we started believing something different?

"My value isn't in doing everything myself. It's in making more possible through others."

Who would we be if we believed that?

Not as a slogan. As how we lead on an ordinary Tuesday.

This Ends Now

Calling it "high standards" when it's really holding on.

The late-night fix. The "I'll just do it." The task we've taken back three times.

If no one else is ever allowed to own it, we may not be protecting quality.

We may be creating a bottleneck.

This Moment Matters

We don't become people who delegate simply by deciding to. We become those people by doing it once, then again.

Before Friday:

1. Name the belief. "I keep doing this myself because I believe ______."
2. Write the replacement. What would a leader you respect believe instead? Keep it to one sentence.
3. Hand off one thing. Pick a low-risk task you've been holding onto. Give someone the outcome, the deadline, and the authority to decide how to get there. Make yourself available for questions, then resist the urge to take it back.

Not everything. One thing.

And if delegation isn't your challenge, the same questions apply to whatever you've decided needs to change.

What are you believing that's keeping the old pattern alive?

What could you believe instead?

And what's one thing you can do today to begin proving it?

This week, that moment might be a task you're still holding.

Put it down.

Up we go—

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P.P.S. We’re putting the finishing touches on an updated speaking demo. If you’re lining up speakers for a 2027 kickoff, conference, or leadership offsite, hit reply with the event date and I’ll send you a sneak peek.