Is "Life Admin" stealing your time and giving you stress in exchange? You are not alone. Personal administrative tasks and chores are part of everyday life, but they seem to have a way of railroading our schedules and stealing our attention away from other activities that matter.
In this article I share three secrets to help you regain control of your time and energy when it comes to managing life admin.
If you haven't heard the term before, here is how Urban Dictionary defines "LIFE ADMIN:"
Secret 1: Life Admin can be scheduled.
We end up having to deal with all of it at some point, so give yourself a head start by scheduling Life Admin into your calendar!
It might feel unfair, allowing life administrative tasks to have their own scheduled time slots in your week or month. But if life admin tasks don't have a proper place in the calendar, they seep into every other day of life on their own terms and with stress in tow!
Top Tips:
Start with a small, manageable increment of time - say 30 minutes
Schedule Life Admin during the hours when you don't need the prime energy of your brain - so after lunch, or towards the end of a work day
Think about practical with scheduling the tasks - schedule bills payment on the day after you get paid or days before they are due - not after!
Build accountability by letting someone in your household or a trusted friend know about your new approach to tackling Life Admin
Secret 2: Your Life Admin tasks can be organised in an inventory and categorized.
As adults, most of us have been managing our life admin for all of our adult years. And yet, we're often not organised, efficient, or even prepared when deadlines and due dates come around. Get to know your Life Admin responsibilities by doing an inventory.
As you go through your scheduled Life Admin hours - take down the types of tasks that fill the time.
When it comes to categorising, there are a number of places you can start:
Frequency - how often does this task come up? weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly? Is it seasonal or regular?
Priority - how important is this task compared to the others?
Time required - how much time does taking care of this task take? can it be done in one sitting, or does it require follow-ups or longer periods of processing?
Other categories: Here are further questions you can ask to help refine the way you categorise and organise your tasks:.
Online or in-person?
Survival or leisure?
Short term or long term?
Top Tips:
Keep a note / file where you can build your list over time
Remember that your inventory is a living document, allow it to change and adapt to your needs over time
Use your categorization to help you build in your tasks efficiently into your schedule
Secret 3: You can automate Life Admin tasks!
Reclaim brain space by letting technology work for you.
There are a surprising number of things we can automate right now. And for things that cannot yet be automated, you can make sure you don't forget about them, by building in reminders or alerts on your phone, events on your calendar, and even scheduling emails to yourself.
Here are a few things you can automate right away:
Monthly payments such as bills or personal savings - schedule them in your online banking app
Monthly life admin reminders - schedule a monthly recurring event in your calendar
Grocery shop - if you order similar items each month online, save your favorite items or a template of your order in your online account , to decrease decision making a few times a month
Top Tips:
If you're new to automating life admin tasks, start small with one task at a time
Keep a record of all the tasks you have automated in your Life Admin file
If any of the automated tasks directly affect another family or household member, make sure to discuss the process and come to agreement with them BEFORE automating anything
Get started!
And there you have it, three secrets to put you back in control of life admin. Now it's time for you to take one step towards reclaiming your time and energy, so that you can thrive! Choose a task or tip from this article and take action.
----
You can THRIVE in every season
🔺 Feeling stuck in a time of change or transition?
Through coaching I help clients get unstuck, so they can fulfil their goals and thrive in the season they are in.
You can thrive too!
Thrive in every season with a coaching plan.
----
Definition of "Life Admin" from Urban Dictionary : https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Life%20Admin