Control Freak

One of the greatest challenges I have ever faced is learning to overcome being a control freak. I am writing this while on vacation and I have been fighting the urge to check my work email for the last two days. My staff, my management and most of my clients know that I am on vacation and I do not expect many emails, however, I always have the compulsion to check. I am working very hard to overcome this, because I am trying to learn that the work will continue without me.

I experience similar struggles when letting my children attempt new things. Our thermostat broke and needed to be replaced. My 16 year old son offered to install the new unit. It is an easy thing to do, the kind of repair, I would normally do myself, just to get it done quickly. This time, I let him do it. As he struggled to connect the wires, I wanted to take over, after all, I could do it faster. I decided to walk away, he completed the wiring, the thermost has worked flawlessly, and he has learned another skill.

We often do not realize how much we have grown because someone else let us try, I know I need to do this more often. If you are working with your children, with your staff or just the new person in the department, let them try, let them fail, even. They will get better, sooner and develop more confidence in their abilities.