Did you ever do a project and figured out at some point that some of your helping hands are not helping at all, but are wasting your time?

I’m currently organizing a career fair with my student organization, and I did organize it last year too. One of my conclusions is that you have to pick your people well and find the people who are self-organized, you can rely on and who will do whatever you need them to do.

You don’t need people who say yes and say they understand everything, and then they don’t do it, or they do it and they do it completely wrong.

Of course, you have to tell them first how they should do it. I prepared templates, but then not doing it this way means usually that you cannot rely on that person to get things done.

There will always be people who want to do everything individually and uniquely, but in a project which gets done every year: the goal is to have the same good quality every year.

“A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.”

— Simon Sinek

You Don’t See It From The Beginning

People are good at having a good first impression. They say yes, agree with you, do some stuff, and can present themselves well.

From my experience, people who are good at talking, usually don’t do shit of the things they are talking about.

You have to figure those people out fast so that you know you cannot rely on their word and their plans. The plans will not get done.

With time you will get a sort of knowledge of people and can figure them out faster.

It’s hard to find the people you can rely on from the beginning. What I’m usually doing then is to have some backup people whom I can trust to get the work done.

“Find the right people, not the best people.”

— Jack Ma

What If You Cannot Choose The People Working With?

I know it can be hard if you cannot choose the people who are helping you with a project. That will happen at work at some point. HR is choosing the people, and not you.

In that case, you should figure who you can trust and rely on fast, so that you know who can give which task.

The people who you know get the work done in time and good will get tasks with more responsibility. The others get tasks that are not essential for the project to succeed.

Don’t fall into the trap of doing the stuff all by yourself then, because the quality and work done will be better, but it will also suffer because you cannot do everything. One day only has 24 hours, and you shouldn’t work the whole time. No project is worth risking and decreasing your health (physically and mentally).

What you should learn from this?

Be fast to figure out who you can trust and rely on, and then don’t waste time with the people you cannot.

Your time is too precious to waste with those people. Appreciate the people who help you and who get things done.

“Kind people are the best kind of people.”

— Unknown

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