Introduction To The Deep End

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Introduction To The Deep End
Blake Emal
September 19, 2024

An approach for accelerating trust and learning with your assistant

Imagine not touching your email for an entire week.

For most leaders, this idea sounds impossible, even scary. But what if this radical step could free up 3 hours of your day every day?

Welcome to the "deep end" approach — a strategy that throws gradual habit-building out the window and challenges you to make massive changes swiftly.

This method offers several key benefits:

  • Breaks Habitual Barriers: Sudden change can disrupt ingrained habits and routines more effectively than gradual adjustments. It forces both you and your assistant to adapt quickly to new workflows.
  • Psychological Commitment: A bold move can reinforce your commitment to change, making it psychologically more difficult to revert to old habits.

By diving into the deep end, you're not just dipping your toes in change — you're fully immersing yourself in a new way of working, accelerating trust-building and learning with your assistant.

Common Tasks that Fit the Deep End Approach

Task/Problem Deep End Approach
Email Management Delegate entire inbox management for a week
Calendar Management Hand over all scheduling
Travel Planning Delegate full trip planning for next business journey
Decision Making Delegate a category of decisions (e.g., vendor selection) for a set period
Content Creation Delegate social media content creation for two weeks
Financial Reporting Delegate monthly financial report preparation
Networking Task assistant with identifying and arranging key networking opportunities for a month
Personal Development Delegate the research and scheduling of relevant courses/workshops for a quarter

How to Implement the Deep End Approach

Before you jump into the deep end with any significant change, here are a few advanced tips:

  1. Choose Your Focus: Select an area that will have a meaningful impact on your productivity and well-being. Consider starting with a single, high-impact task or process.
  2. Set Clear Parameters: Define the scope and duration of your experiment. One week is usually a good starting point for any deep end approach, allowing enough time to see results without overwhelming yourself.
  3. Prepare Your Assistant: Provide them with the resources, authority, and support they need to succeed. This may include access to relevant tools, decision-making power, and a clear understanding of your expectations. The rewards here can be significant: accelerated skill development for your assistant, a stronger, more effective partnership, and rapid improvement in your productivity systems.
  4. Establish Feedback and Safety Mechanisms: Create a system for quick adjustments, learning, and quality control throughout the process. Daily check-ins are typically a minimum for the first time you try this. These check-ins serve as a safety net to catch and correct missteps; a good example of this is delegating email management. Schedule brief daily briefings with your assistant. During these sessions, they can highlight any critical messages or decisions.
  5. Commit Fully: Half-measures won't yield the transformative results you're after. Trust the process and resist the urge to micromanage. Remember, the goal is to free up your time and mental energy.