Teach a man to fish

Give a Man a Fish

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Sometimes the person doesn’t want to learn to fish. Sometimes that person is us. I’m a firm believing in outsourcing, if possible. Time is money.

Self-sufficiency is great and all, but sometimes we try to be self-sufficient in a way that compromises ourselves. Often, it’s our ego, insisting that we do it ourselves. We have to prove to others and ourselves that we can do it.

Fuck that.

If you have the means to delegate a task that comes naturally to some else, delegate that task.

If what you need to do is something that an expert spent days, weeks, months or years learning, delegate (unless you really want to do it).

If you know that performing the task will drive you insane, delegate.

If you think that the task or project will break you, consider whether you can outsource it or delegate.

That said, we tend to be stronger than we think. Often, the anticipation of doing the thing is worse than doing the thing.

Sometimes it’s good to take on something that will break you. We all need to be challenged beyond our comfort zone even if it has consequences.

We should try things.

There’s a sense of appreciation and satisfaction that comes from tackling a difficult task, from overcoming a challenge, from going from zero knowledge to expert, from nailing something difficult that you’ve never done before. We should all be learning new things continuously. We don’t need to add every skill to our toolbox.

This past year I took on a project that, at times, made me want to kill myself. The project was foisted upon me. There was much frustration and resentment.

I appreciate having experienced learning and frustration.

I learned to fish, then let someone else fish. Now I’m back fishing in the rookie boat. I like it here.

Fishing (the hard tasks) is good for you, but it’s okay to let someone else catch and clean the fish.

Delegate. Learn to fish, decide if you want to fish, then eat some fish.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Sometimes the person doesn’t want to learn to fish. Sometimes that person is us. I’m a firm believing in outsourcing, if possible. Time is money.

Self-sufficiency is great and all, but sometimes we try to be self-sufficient in a way that compromises ourselves. Often, it’s our ego, insisting that we do it ourselves. We have to prove to others and ourselves that we can do it.

Fuck that.

If you have the means to delegate a task that comes naturally to some else, delegate that task.

If BIG TASK is something that an expert spent days, weeks, months or years learning, delegate (unless you want to do it).

If you feel that the BIG TASK will drive you insane, delegate.

If you think that the task or project will break you, consider whether you can outsource it or delegate.

That said, we tend to be stronger than we think. Often, the anticipation of doing the thing is worse than doing the thing.

Sometimes it’s good to take on something that will break you. We all need to be challenged beyond our comfort zone, even if it has consequences.

We need to practice resilience. Resilience is important.

We should try things.

There’s a sense of appreciation and satisfaction that comes from tackling a difficult task, from overcoming a challenge, from going from zero knowledge to expert, from nailing something difficult that you’ve never done before. We should all be learning new things continuously. We don’t need to add every skill to our toolbox.

This past year a project was foisted upon me. I experienced frustration and resentment.

I appreciate having experienced learning and frustration.

I learned to fish, then let someone else fish. Now I’m back fishing in the rookie boat. I like it here.

Fishing is good for you, but it’s okay to let someone else catch and clean the fish.

Delegate. Learn to fish, decide if you want to fish, then eat some fish.

Delegate. Learn to fish, decide if you want to fish, then eat some fish.