Yitro(Exodus 18-20)

Delegate and Soar

Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, came to see Moses after he had heard all of the miracles that God had performed for the Jewish people. Jethro saw that a countless number of Jews were all standing in line to speak to Moses with questions they had. Jethro then told Moses:

"Why do you sit alone with all the people standing by you from morning to evening?... You will surely become worn out ... as well as this people that is with you...." (Exodus 18:14-17)

A LIFE LESSON

Jethro couldn't believe that Moses was the only person who was able to give advice and answers to the Jewish people. Jethro knew that this lack of hierarchy was destined for failure. So he advised Moses how to establish a system whereby the Jews would first go to other knowledgeable people and only seek out Moses for the most complicated and difficult questions and cases.

This method of delegation is in place in virtually every company, army, and government around the world. In fact, it's vital for any large entity to ever run effectively.

Even though the power of delegation can be just as effective in our own lives, many of us have a difficult time delegating certain important tasks to others. The reason for this is that the moment we ask someone else to do something for us we immediately lose a sense of control. Even though we all have very capable people around us, many of us live with a belief that the best outcome can only occur when we do something ourselves.

But ironically, the exact opposite is true. This is because the only way ever to achieve greatness is to be able to go "outside yourself" and be humble enough to realize that others are extremely capable and many times can actually do a better job then you can. Also, allowing others to assist you in the countless tasks that they're very capable of doing will immediately increase your self-esteem. This is because it will reign in your egocentric belief that you're the best one to do everything and demonstrate that you have the ability to trust others to get a job done. And all of this will then free you up to do the things that no one else really can't do.

Additionally, there are times when we would love to delegate something to someone else but the other person simply lacks the knowledge to do it. So we say to ourselves, "it's easier if I just do it myself." Again, this is a debilitating belief. While initially it might take some time to teach others a new set of skills or knowledge, investing a few minutes with them now will enable and empower them to know exactly what to do in the future.

So fight the urge, and delegate important tasks by asking someone to do something that you ordinarily would only do yourself. This will prevent you from "surely becoming worn out" and allow you to focus your energies only on the things that have the potential to make you great.