Hello, again, Laura. (I like your title, btw)

Thanks for the list. Interesting stuff. I'm gonna offer some thoughts about your list, counterpointing them with other viewpoints that might be more useful beliefs.

- the intimate belief you're the best person for the job (hey, got to belief in yourself, right)

You presume the job needs doing. I think sometimes people get asked to do things more and more and more because they accept everything. And I think in that situation, people have ideas and just ask without the consequences being carried through. I know I deal with this all the time. You show someone a program and they have an instantaneous idea for a feature. So they blurt it out, and you're tempted to add it to the todo list. But really, if you give them ten minutes, they'll probably forget the idea.

If you go through something similar (and what the hell -do- you do, anyway? ;) ) then putting up a bit of resistance, at least asking people to give you some kind of justification like a cost-benefit analysis, might help keep items off the list in the first place.

Do you have the ability to turn down tasks in your work? If you do, how would you choose what to do and what to drop? If not, your boss can only expect so much out of you, so you can force them to prioritise, and you can make it clear that certain tasks won't get done because there are always new higher priority tasks.

- reluctance to lose an time explaining every detail of the task you might have been able to delegatep

You mentioned unskilled assistants; are they working hard, or are they languishing while you overwork? If your assistants really can't be delegated to, you should probably find someone who is going to be more help, or figure out how to train these people to be more effective.

- collecting projects, hoping something more interesting will come along

But if something more interesting -does- come along, you're not going to be able to grasp it. Clearing the decks will give you the space and time to deal with interesting projects.

- getting a little territorial

Can you give an example?

- showing off

Showing off to your peers? I think, if you want to impress people, your peers aren't able to reward you. The people who can reward great work are your bosses. So, I wonder, could you be more impressive if you have less on at any one time? You could manage your smaller workload more effectively, and therefore get projects turned over faster (no more 2-month-old items) and get a reputation for, um, getting things done.

- being kind

But you've said that an absolute consequence of being generous with your help is that you spred yourself too thin, right? Pick and choose the people most in need of help, and you'll be giving the most benefits to the most deserving.

...

As I say, they're not meant as contradictions, but as different beliefs to try out.

Steve.