Welcome to Level Six ⇪

Our aim at Athena is to help you achieve more by becoming a level six delegator.

In each issue of our newsletter you’ll get unique tips, including:

• Level Up → An insight to help you delegate better

• Delegate This → A specific idea on what to delegate

In this issue we cover:

• Default Delegate

• Salvaging Summer Delays

PS — Jason Calacanis recently described how Athena assistants allow him to:

• Track more startups

• Meet more founders

• Build deeper relationships with portfolio companies

His US-based investment team now focuses on higher level tasks and gets to do more in-person meetings with founders.

Take a listen (starts at 1:13:54):

LEVEL UP

Default Delegate

Our co-founder Jonathan Swanson noticed that the best delegators don’t just delegate better, they delegate way more.

One insight explains why:

The best delegators don’t worry if something can be delegated. They assume everything can (with enough training or by breaking tasks into sub-tasks).

Instead of thinking “how should I do this?” Think: “who should do this?”

Putting this into action:

• Beginner delegators will research a flight and book it, asking their assistant to put it in their cal

• Intermediate delegators will have their assistant send three flight options to choose from based on parameters they share for that specific flight

• Advanced delegators will have a process for flights to be booked and added to cal without review, with their assistant only flagging if flights don’t fit their general criteria

In every task, project or goal there are ways to leverage your assistant to free up your headspace for the decisions that matter most.

If you feel pressure, apply pressure. Delegate.

DELEGATE THIS

Salvaging Summer Delays

It’s peak season for travel issues: summer. Delays happen on over 10,000 flights in July and August every year (more people are traveling mixed with extreme weather).

Leverage your assistant to never miss plans:

1. Have your assistant book a refundable backup option for each leg of your trip (including the first flight out the next day).

2. Have your assistant monitor your flights and cancel back up options once you’ve arrived on time.

3. If something does go wrong, have your assistant request travel credits (from airlines, car rental agencies, etc). Your assistant will often need to call/write and escalate multiple times to get the credit.

Liked this issue? Let us know by voting in the poll below. And expect to receive more delegation tips to help you build leverage every few weeks.