RE: Thoughts on feminism, perfectionism and delegation.
Delegating is hard. I say it as a freelancer with too much work at times. It's really hard to trust someone enough to do your job for you, especially if you're hired for the job/project based on your personal qualities and qualifications. For that reason I learned to delegate many of the things that are more family-related.
Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who likes to cook, works (mostly) from home like myself, and loves spending time with our daughter, so that's quite easy right there. He's also better in the mornings than I am, so he takes care of that part, too. Phew.
But the lack of ability to delegate at work is really frustrating sometimes. I don't know if it's because I'm a woman or because I really am a frequent perfectionist (with some of the disturbances it entails), but when it comes to work, it just feels wrong to let someone do a job I was hired for.
However, recently we found a very good solution for delegation of "stuff" neither my husband nor I like to or even can take care of - official stuff, declarations, medical documents, etc. - we send everything we can to a VA, a virtual assistant, which is like a PA, only online, and you pay them by the hour. This really takes a load off our shoulders.
I wish everyone would delegate more. It really feels good.
Thanks for the feedback :)
Of course if you're paid to do your job, paying someone else to do this is uncomfortable.
I was never a freelancer, so I can't tell from my own experience,
But I've heard stories of women entrepreneurs that try to do it all on their own because they can't trust others to "do their jobs". But you can't be good at accounting, business management, human resources, logistics, administration, IT... sometimes you just have to accept that in order to maintain your sanity- you have to let other professionals in their fields in. So yeah, it'll cost you money. But you gain so much more.
As you said about the VA, it just feels good. You help other people make their living, you a load off your shoulders so you can invest yourself where you're needed most. It's just good!