I recently saw something that changed how I think about leadership and personal effectiveness. A brilliant visionary I worked with was struggling…not because they lacked ideas or vision, but because the tasks they were doing kept them from their real purpose.
Sound familiar?
The Trap Every Visionary Falls Into
Visionaries naturally see possibilities everywhere. You notice gaps in the market, imagine solutions, and then get to work making them happen. But the hard truth is that when you start working IN your business instead of ON it, you stop being a visionary.
Gino Wickman nailed this in Traction® with the Delegate and Elevate tool. The concept is elegantly simple: identify what energizes you versus what drains you, then systematically delegate everything that doesn’t require your unique genius.
Dan Martell goes even further in Buy Back Your Time with his DRIP method. This framework forces you to confront a tough question: What is your time really worth?
The DRIP Reality Check
Document what you’re doing. Replace yourself systematically. Invest the time savings back into high-value activities. Produce at the level only you can produce.
When you figure out your real hourly value and see that you’re spending it on tasks someone else could do for $25 an hour, the answer is obvious. You’re not being resourceful; you’re being wasteful.
The visionary I mentioned? Once they embraced this mindset, everything changed. They stopped being the bottleneck and became the catalyst. Their role crystallized around what only they could do: Money. Vision. People. In other words…the real MVP!
Beyond Business: The Personal DRIP Effect
Here’s where it gets interesting: this idea doesn’t end at work.
Think about your personal life for a moment. What’s at the top of your list for how you want to spend your time? For most of us, it’s relationships. Time with people we love. Pursuing passions that light us up.
Now ask yourself: If you have the financial means, why are you still spending Saturday morning cleaning gutters instead of taking your kids to their favorite breakfast spot? Why are you assembling IKEA furniture when you could be having that deep conversation with your partner that you’ve been putting off?
The 30,000-Foot Advantage
A visionary’s real value isn’t in doing every task. It’s in their ability to think big and see what others can’t. When you let go of the day-to-day work, you make room for the big ideas that really make a difference.
This isn’t about being lazy or expecting special treatment. It’s about recognizing that your unique strengths lose impact every time you choose busy work over work that leads to real breakthroughs.
The Questions That Change Everything
Before you dismiss this as “easier said than done,” ask yourself:
What would happen if you spent the next month tracking every task you do and assigning it an honest dollar value?
If someone offered to pay you your desired hourly rate to do work that only you can do, would you still choose to spend time on tasks others could handle?
What breakthrough idea or relationship is waiting for you on the other side of delegation?
Real talk…
What’s the one task you know you should delegate but haven’t? And what’s really stopping you?
Share your thoughts below. I’d love to hear where you think visionaries often get stuck and how you’ve overcome those challenges.
What would you say resonates most with your current situation? The business side, the personal side, or something else entirely?
About Niki Wilson
As an EOS® Implementer, Niki Wilson serves as a teacher, coach, and facilitator, helping business leaders transform their companies and their lives through the Entrepreneurial Operating System®.