Personal Efficiency Do Delegate Delete

Task Library

Apply the Personal Efficiency triangle – Do, Delegate, Delete – so every incoming item is actioned immediately, handed off with instructions, or removed, keeping the operator at inbox zero.

Category: Strategy & Measurement

Use this when your inbox, DMs, or task list are backing up and you need a repeatable triage system instead of willpower.

Inputs

  • Access to every inbox the operator works from (email, messages, task manager)
  • At least one delegation target – a VA, teammate, or apprentice who can receive handoffs
  • The operator's priorities mapped to the Three Pillars (marketing, operations, finance), so Delete decisions are objective

Steps

  1. Define the triangle: every incoming item gets exactly one of three verbs – Do (act now), Delegate (hand off), or Delete (decline/archive). There is no fourth bucket; "later" is not a verb.
  2. Process each inbox top to bottom, touching every item once. If it takes under two minutes or only you can do it, Do it immediately.
  3. If someone else can do it acceptably well, Delegate: forward with the goal, the deadline, and a link to the relevant checklist or skill.md – never a bare "handle this."
  4. If it serves no goal in the Three Pillars, Delete it – unsubscribe, decline, or archive so it cannot resurface.
  5. Repeat until every inbox reads zero, then schedule triage as a recurring daily block instead of reacting all day.
  6. Log what was delegated and to whom so the Management triangle (Communicate, Iterate, Delegate) can follow up on quality.
  7. Measure it: track the weekly Do/Delegate/Delete counts and time-to-zero in the Friday MAA report; a rising Delegate share means the system is compounding.

Definition of done (QA checklist)

  • All inboxes at zero at the end of the triage block
  • Every delegated item has a named owner, a deadline, and linked instructions
  • Nothing parked in a "later" pile – each item received Do, Delegate, or Delete
  • Weekly Do/Delegate/Delete ratio recorded in the MAA report
  • Linked back to the definitive article and relevant siblings
  • Complies with Blog Posting Guidelines (if it publishes content)

Example(s)

  • Example needed – run the Meta-Article Prompt after first real run. (The hub at /nine-triangles links live examples; pull the closest match into this slot.)

File in the zip: skills/strategy-measurement/personal-efficiency-do-delegate-delete.md. Download the Task Library zip.

Index: Task Library. Article guidelines.

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