7 tips to life admin like a BOSS

Life admin.

I love this phrase. This concept.


When I have used this term before people have said 'Life admin. I like that phrase' or 'That' s a good saying'

In all honestly, I have been quite shocked by how many people have had that similar reaction to me using the term 'Life Admin'

I have definately heard other people use it. It's not a new, chic word that's on the streets...because if it was I am definately not cool enough to be one of the first to use it. Anyway,  I googled it. It's in the Urban dictionary, so therefore it's legit a known term.

Life Admin is all of those tasks that you have to do. There's no way of #adulting without getting them done. Some, (pretty much all of them) are mundane, take up way too much time and effort when there is probably more enjoyable things to do in that time.

I love the term #LifeAdmin it just sounds much better than organising a meeting with the bank or doing household chores or decluttering my email inbox.

And. To be honest. As much as some life admin tasks are boring and I would rather catch up on Netflix, secretly I love it. I love it even more when I life admin like a boss.

Now let's get something straight. I am no expert and I certainly am not perfect. But here are my tips on how to life admin like a BOSS

1. SET DEADLINES

Pretty straight forward concept I know, but never under estimate the power of a deadline. Like most things, we don't really want to do, but know we should, as once we do it, we will be better for it - oh hey new diet - life admin can easily get pushed back. recognise the phrases "oh i will start it on Monday" or " I will do that tomorrow"  In the words of Ronan Keating ' If tomorrow never comes...'  you guessed it tomorrow never does. So set some deadlines. Start and End dates for all your life admin tasks. Even narrow it down for times if its tasks that won't need a couple of days. I like to that with mini tasks, like booking appointments online or filling in a form. Will allocate 30mins in my schedule to get that done, and because it's somewhat like a challenge, and we all know how competitive I am... it works a treat.

2. PRIORITISE TASKS

Seems logical right? Prioritise tasks, and get the most important or the one that needs to be completed done first. Simple right? NOT if you don't prioritise tasks first. It so easy to start with the easy tasks, or tasks you like ( or dislike a little less than others) but then when you need a few things done immediately you then feel bogged down with life admin. To avoid this I advise prioritising tasks. Things that need to be done now, or today or this week, and tasks that can be done in the next month or that can be done whenever. Simples.

3. UTILISE 'WAITING AROUND' TIMES

I know what you are thinking when you read tip number 3. 'I am too busy, I don't have waiting around time' However, bare with me. Believe it or not, there are a good few hours in a day where we could fit small life admin tasks in, where we would be otherwise 'waiting around'. Let me explain.  Waiting around is probably not the right phrase, but it's the best way of describing the times I am referring too. Smaller life admin tasks like, sending a Facebook message to arrange something, or uploading a selling post on a buy and sell site or writing some post-it notes for around the house etc. can actually be done whilst we are doing other things or 'waiting around'.  Examples of these times are:  waiting for the kettle to boil, waiting in the car to pick someone up, watching the tv, cooking dinner or making lunch waiting for the 5mins recommended for the Bathroom tile spray, before rinsing off. See. I bet you can find a few spare minutes now. Perfect for ticking off those smaller life admin tasks!

4. DAIRYS / NOTEBOOKS / JOURNALS 

I am girl obsessed when it comes to diary and notebooks. I brought 4 new notebooks last week, I still have two empty ones from my last notebook haul. Seems excessive, but believe me they will get filled. Diaries, notebooks and journals are an excellent way to plan and utilise to make notes on all things life admin. I have a notebook for different things I am involved with or doing. It seems basic but it is such a lifesaver. All my notes, forms, bits of papers all in one place. Importantly any phone conversations I have regarding any of my projects, I can jot down anything that was discussed or any important notes. I also have to have a diary. I cannot live without one. I have to schedule in pretty much everything and this is great for cracking through that long list of life admin tasks! 

5.  APPS: CALENDAR / NOTES / SPREADSHEETS / ALARMS

Our phones and tablets are full of unbelievably helpful apps to help us be a BOSS when it comes to life admin. The calendar is a great start. Now I work shifts so this is incredibly helpful in knowing when I am working and when I am not. I have a specific shift calendar app, but this calendar, like many standard calendar apps, allows me to write in extra notes on each day! I love to use this when out and about and someone asks me can I attend something or I see an event I want to attend. I can check first, If  I am working or more importantly, If i have scheduled in some important, prioritised (see what i did there) life admin. The Notes app is like a portable extension of my (MANY!) notebooks at home. With an app I can note take anywhere I want to my hearts content! As well as notebooks, your girl loves a good spreadsheet. Now I am not spreadsheet heavy in my life. I mainly use them for finances and I had a few of them when it came to wedding planning! but that life admin is well and truly done with! THANK HEAVENS! But all in all I can appreciate the usefulness of a good spreadsheet.  Columns and rows, can be very handy to lay out tasks  and with numbers and colour co-ordination, you can't go wrong with this level of organisation. I also have just found out how good setting a variety of alarms can be. Now I love my sleep and love my bed, so the alarm is not on the top of my favourites list. However, the alarm can come in handy to remind yourself to start or do something that just needs to get done! Even simple things that you can forget if you get carried away doing something else. A good idea I came across was setting a weekly alarm to ensure the bins go out! Brilliant idea! 

6. HAVE LIFE ADMIN DAYS!

Now I know looking at that title the concept of a life admin day sounds like THE most boring day ever, but it can be super useful and somewhat cathartic. If you are the sort of person who just one day thinks, 'right today I am going to (insert a long overdue task here', then a life admin day is for you. I have done it with the major spring clean and the organising the cupboard ( which intern are life admin tasks themselves..) but a day dedicated to just GETTING STUFF DONE works wonders. If you cannot be bothered to set different deadlines, or get little things done every day throughout the day, then set aside a day and go full force into the life admin. AS well as my other tips, I have at least two life admin days a month. I set my self up with YouTube, Netflix and a selection of snacks and drinks and I just crack on! I normally station myself around a table or at the computer, if I have a few online tasks and then work from there. I might  have to go off into the bedroom for a couple of hours to do the wardrobe sort, but I just pick up the tablet, and a selection of snacks and there I am for a couple of hours and then onto the next task. To be honest, the time flies by, and I am normally surprised at the end of the day about how much work I have actually go done. Winning! 

7. DON'T AVOID IT

Above all the best tip I can give is to not avoid doing your life admin tasks. Life admin is something that has always been there, and always will be. It won't go away. It will just get more frustrating as the lists grow longer, the deadlines approach and you can no longer fit anything more under the bed. So even if my tips above are not for you. Then please take in this one! A BOSS is not perfect, a BOSS still has things it should of done earlier... but a BOSS always has a good go and tries to get it done! 

Life admin. We got this. 

Jasmine 

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