I Just Rewrote My Job Description. Here's How (and Why) I Did It.

“I love my business…but I hate my job.”

If you’ve ever said that out loud (or just muttered it under your breath), I need you to hear this:

Nine times out of ten, you don’t hate your business…you hate the JOB you’ve accidentally built for yourself inside your business.

I’ve been there.

The work I loved slowly got replaced by work I dreaded.

Meetings I didn’t need to attend.
Decisions I shouldn’t have been making
Tasks I sucked at, but still felt like I needed to do.

I was so burned out that I was ready just to blow everything up. Fortunately, a good friend told me I should try rewriting my job description first.

It worked.

I didn’t just get my life back, I actually fell in love with my business again.

Here’s how I did it…

I asked myself a simple (but uncomfortable) question:

NOT “What needs to get done?”
NOT “What I’m currently doing?
NOT “What am I afraid to delegate?”

…what’s the truly high-leverage work that only I can do?

For me, that list included:

That’s it.

No performance reviews.
No running weekly team meetings.
No project management.

…just the work that actually moves the needle (and that I happen to love doing).

I asked myself…

For me, that included:

These are all things I have done and I can do…but I shouldn’t.

And that’s exactly the point.

This is the step that makes it work.

I emailed my leadership team and said:

When I did this, two things happened…

First, I got help.

A lot of what was in my No-Go Zone was already someone else’s job.

For example, we had managers who were supposed to lead meetings and own performance conversations…I just never gave them the room (or permission) to do them.

When I stopped hoarding those responsibilities, I left room for the team to step up, which is exactly what they did.

Second, I modeled delegation.

If the founder won’t let go, no one else will either.

When I publicly committed to doing more Genius work and less No-Go work, it gave everyone else permission to do the same.

This wasn’t a productivity problem…it was a role problem.

I had outgrown the job I was still trying to perform.

How many other people on my team were feeling the same frustration…the same burnout?

Answer: A lot.

And now that I was modeling the right behavior, we were able to address their frustrations, too.

This is when the talking stopped and the systems-building began…

I formalized my new role as: Founder & Chief Strategy Architect

Then I wrote a tight Role Summary that clearly defined what I exist to do inside the company:

Then I defined my Core Responsibilities:

And then I created the most important section of all:

What I Will No Longer Do

Then I published it to the entire company.

Why?

Because if your job description only lives in your head, you’ll fall back into your old habits. But once it’s written (and visible), your team can call you out when you start grabbing tasks you shouldn’t be touching.

And if your team is anything like mine…they will call you out. 😂

Once I redesigned my role, the burnout faded, the resentment disappeared, and I fell in love with my business again.

If you’re feeling burned out and trapped in your own company, don’t assume the business is broken.

Instead, fire yourself from the job you hate…

…and rehire yourself for a job you love.

⚡ Action Step: Block 60 minutes this week. Write your Role Summary in one sentence. Define 3–5 Core Responsibilities that represent your Genius Zone.

Then create a bold “What I Will No Longer Do” list, publish it to your leadership team, and ask them to hold you to it.

Here’s my job description template and an AI prompt that should simplify the process. (I wish I had this when I rewrote mine.)

Give it a try, and let me know how it works.

-Ryan

Ryan Deiss
Co-Founder and CEO, The Scalable Company

P.S. I’m looking for 5 business owners who want to work 1-on-1 with my team and me to install a custom “operating system” in 2026, so your business can scale and so you can exit the day-to-day. Click here for the details.