In an earlier post I talked about why you should try to spend 80% of your time, energy, and resources focusing on your strengths. In other words, focusing on the stuff you do best. But what about the “other” stuff? What about the weaknesses? What about the stuff that, let’s face it, you’re pretty crappy at? Should you spend the remaining 20% of your time, energy, and resources focusing on them?

Not necessarily.

If there’s something you’re currently doing that you’re just not very good at, the three steps you should consider, in this order, are:

1. Throw it out
2. Give it away
3. Suck it up

Let’s look at these one at a time.

1. Throw it out

If there’s something you’re currently doing that you’re just not very good at, the very first thing you should do is decide whether the damn thing needs to be done in the first place! Look, I’m not very good at playing the bagpipes. Now, I could spend hours, days, weeks, months, years becoming a bagpipe blackbelt ninja zen master, but the simple truth is: bagpipes don’t need to be played at all! (The Bagpipe Society may have a different opinion, but they have like, what—14 members? I’m not afraid of them!)

When I was producing my sketch comedy TV show, Almost Live!, our original format was a one-hour comedy/talk show that mixed comedy sketches with guest interviews. That was great—until the original host left and we discovered that the guy I promoted to be the new host was a terrible interviewer. I spent a couple of months trying to “fix” the interview segments, until it finally hit me: we didn’t need to have the damn interview segments at all! We could simple throw them out and become a half-hour sketch comedy show! After that, not only did we win over 100 Emmy Awards, but we were never less than #1 in our time slot.

So Step 1: See if you can just throw it out!

2. Give it away

I’m not real good at doing my corporate taxes, but I’m guessing the IRS and I would have an unpleasant conversation if I simply threw them out. So this is something that I’m not very good at, but that absolutely needs to be done. What to do? Outsource it! I’ve got an accountant who does my corporate taxes. I’ve got a graphic designer who does my graphic designy stuff. My house is due for a new roof, and I’m thinking about outsourcing that as well. (I’ve never tried to put a new roof on a house. For all I know, I’m the best “putting new roofs on houses” guy in the world. But somehow I’m sensing I’m not, so I’m going to give this one away.)

Giving it away = outsourcing = making some other professional (the one you give the work to) very happy and keeping you sane.

Step 2: If you’re not good at it, and it absolutely needs to be done, but it doesn’t absolutely need to be done by you, then give it away!

3. Suck it up

Look, there are times when it absolutely needs to be done, and it absolutely needs to be done by you. I’m a motivational keynote speaker. Like most of my colleagues, I spend a lot of time in airports, on airplanes, and in hotels. Learning the ins and outs of road warrior travel is part of my job. So far, my selfish clients have simply refused to relocate their multi-day conferences with their hundreds or thousands of attendees to my house. This means that I must go to them. It’s a necessary part of the work, so it absolutely needs to be done. And it’s not really outsource-able. I can’t go on Elance and hire somebody to do my travel for me. It has to be done by me, so I’ve had to suck it up and learn how to do it. It’s not my favorite part of the job, but it is part of the job.

Every job, no matter how cool, glamorous, or highly paid, has its crappy parts. Remember the movie Notting Hill? In it, Julia Roberts plays a mega-rich, mega-famous movie star (this is what’s know in the business as “a stretch”). There’s a scene where she’s struggling to learn her lines for an upcoming movie. That’s the drudgery, that’s the crappy part. But if you’re going to be a mega-rich, mega-famous movie star, it’s also part of the job.

If you’re a cardiac surgeon, you have to suck it up and get really good at washing your hands. If you’re a team leader, you have to suck it up and get really good at communicating with your team. If you’re a parent, you have to suck it up and get really good at feeding your kids (and I mean every day!).

Step 3: If you’re not good at it, and it absolutely needs to be done, and it absolutely needs to be done by you, then get good at it. Suck it up!

If none of these 3 steps works for you, there is a 4th step: find another line of work (and don’t become a parent).