As the year winds down and the holidays approach, business owners carry all the extras. Your hands and your head are full of tasks from every corner of life: running the business, leading your team, managing your personal finances, and keeping up with family commitments. Somewhere on that list is the dog, who needs her vaccines before she can be boarded for your holiday travel.
So how do you turn down the noise and focus on the things only you can, or should, own? Here is a simple process we use ourselves at DBA.
Step 1: Brain dump.
Write down everything that's keeping you up at night. Big or small, business or personal, it all goes on one list. Just getting it out of your head is a relief.
Step 2: Sort your list into four boxes.
- Do now. Urgent and important. These can't wait, so handle them first.
- Schedule. Important but not urgent. This is usually the work only you can do: planning, key decisions, and important conversations with your team. These are the items that get pushed aside by daily fire drills.
- Delegate. These need to get done, often soon, but they don't need to be done by you.
- Delete. Not urgent and not important. Let them go. This is also the place for worries you can't control. Acknowledge them, then release them.
Step 3: Block time on your calendar.
Time blocking simply means deciding ahead of time when you'll do your most important work, instead of hoping you'll find the time. Take each item in your Schedule box, give it a specific day and a set block of time, and put it on your calendar.
This is exactly how I manage my own work at DBA. If I know a client project needs an hour of focused attention, I add that hour to my Teams calendar just as if it were a meeting. Because it is one: a meeting with myself to accomplish a specific project. I protect that time the same way I would a meeting with a client.
Start small. Even one protected block a week makes a noticeable difference.
Step 4: Delegate responsibility, not just the task.
Delegating is one of the best ways to get time back, but how you delegate matters. When you delegate a task, you still carry it. You remember it, you follow up on it, and you're still on the hook for the outcome. When you delegate responsibility, someone else carries it.
Here's an example from my own house. I can ask my husband to take one of our kids to the dentist. That's a task. He'll do it, and I'll be grateful, but I still have to remember when checkups are due, make the appointments, and handle the follow-ups. Or I can ask him to be responsible for our family's dental health. Now he schedules the appointments, tracks the follow-ups, and keeps everyone on schedule. If he doesn't make the appointment, no one will, and that's the point. It's off my mind entirely, not just off my calendar.
The same is true in your business. Asking a senior leader to book the venue for your annual service day is a task. Asking a leader with a heart for service to own the company's annual service project is responsibility. Now they choose the organization, set the date, rally the team, and make it meaningful. You get to show up and serve alongside everyone else.
Delegation without capability creates chaos. Before you hand something off, set the person up to succeed:
- Choose someone capable, and tell them why this matters.
- Be clear about what “done well” looks like.
- Make sure they have the tools, access, and authority to act.
- Agree on how and when they'll keep you in the loop.
- Then step back and let them own it. The responsibility is truly theirs now.
Your challenge this season
Pick one item from your list and hand over the ownership, not just the task. You'll free up more than time. You'll free up the mental space to lead.
And remember, you don't have to carry the financial side alone. Year-end tax planning, cash flow for the new year, and payroll changes are exactly what your DBA team is here to own alongside you. If something on your list falls into that category, reach out. We're happy to take it off your plate.
