Out of your hands

(Photo: mohamed Hassan/Pixabay | Text: David/ArtisanEnglish.jp)

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Phrase: Out of your hands

Most of us do not sit at the top of the food chain when it comes to our workplaces.

Full disclosure here: I sit at the top of my workplace because I am self-employed and the only one working.

I also simultaneously sit at the bottom.

As I was going to say, most people have only so much authority, and then decisions are out of their hands.

This situation can make some people feel powerless, but on the bright side, it also means they do not bear the burden of authority.


Once something is out of your hands, you no longer have responsibility for it because someone else is now in charge.


If you try to influence the decision-making for something primarily out of your hands, you may end up digging your own grave or becoming the fall guy if or when something goes wrong.

When mistakes are found or big decisions need to be made, companies bring out the big guns.

They are the ones above your pay grade who are supposed to take on the responsibility of making the big decisions.

Therefore, I wouldn’t complain too much once something is out of your hands.

The most important thing to remember about this phrase is that it is a great one to use when you no longer want to deal with someone who is complaining to you about a problem they have.

All you have to say is, “Look, I’d like to help you, but it’s out of my hands.”

That person will no longer wish to speak to you because you can’t help them.

Problem solved – at least as far as you are concerned.


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 75.

The easier the passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.