Delegation Anxiety
You're afraid that if someone else does it, it won't be as good. So you keep doing it yourself. Delegation anxiety is the fear that delegating will result in lower quality or lost control. It's the primary blocker preventing domain experts from scaling. Ironically, delegation usually improves quality when you've set a clear bar and a quality gate—because you're not exhausted and you're focusing on the high-leverage moment. Naming the anxiety is the first step; the next is building the system so delegation is safe.
Same task, with and without anxiety. Without: you never hand off. You're the bottleneck. With: you document what "good" looks like (SOP, service standardization), add a gate where you review before it ships, and delegate. The first time won't be perfect—and that's the point. You correct, refine, and after a few cycles quality stabilizes. Delegation anxiety often pairs with perfectionism—"I have to redo it." The shift: your job becomes defining and holding the bar, not doing every step.
The fear that handing off means losing quality or control. Address it with clear standards and a quality gate.
How to work through it
-
Name it. "I'm afraid it won't be as good" is the anxiety. Acknowledging it doesn't fix it, but it lets you design around it—e.g. a quality gate so work is reviewed before it ships.
-
Start small. Delegate one low-stakes, repeatable task. Calendar, first draft of a proposal, intake. Prove that the world doesn't end when someone else does it. Then expand.
-
Define "good" and hold the bar. Documentation and SOP give the delegate a script. You own the gate. That's how quality stays high while you let go of execution.