"Life admin" refers to the various administrative tasks and responsibilities that individuals need to manage in their daily lives outside of work or specific projects. In other words, it is the often invisible set of tasks that take up a huge amount of time but seem to get you nowhere but back to your list with even more tasks to complete! Scheduling a dentist appointment, getting your driver's license renewed, paying taxes, creating meal plans, household chores, finding childcare, sorting through emails and, of course, trying to get away from the impending sense of doom that reading this list just gave you.
These tasks, like work in general, will expand to fill up as much of your time as possible if you let them, and stand in the way of what you actually want to be doing. But why do they pile up so quickly?
Limited Time and Energy
You are not a robot! Balancing work, family obligations, social commitments, and personal interests leaves individuals exhausted and with limited time and energy to devote to life admin tasks. As a result, these tasks can accumulate over time, especially if they're put off or postponed.
Complexity and Bureaucracy
We often have a thousand simultaneous life admin tasks to juggle, ranging from mundane chores to important financial decisions. The sheer volume of tasks can make it challenging to stay on top of everything. The more annoying life admin tasks can also be complex and time-consuming, such as navigating healthcare systems, dealing with government agencies and managing legal paperwork.
Sweet, Sweet Procrastination
In my experience, most life admin tasks are tedious or unpleasant until you’re actually doing them, and we’ve all experienced procrastination in our lives! Delaying these tasks only makes things worse, as they (and the guilt!) continue to pile up and become more daunting over time.
Unforeseen Events
Ever put off working on something for a while just to get sick when you finally have time to do it? Unexpected life events, such as illness, accidents, or family emergencies, can disrupt routines and priorities, causing life admin tasks to pile up in the meantime. You then face a wall of tasks to deal with after whatever stressful thing you just went through!
Lack of Organization (The Most Important and Where I Can Help!)
Without effective systems or strategies in place for managing life admin tasks, things can quickly spiral out of control. Disorganization can lead to missed deadlines, forgotten obligations, and unnecessary anxiety, and combined with procrastination, things get steadily worse over time! This downward spiral is likely something all of us are familiar with (I know I am!), and getting out of and giving yourself room to breathe is super important for your mental and physical health.
The solutions? Automate the boring but easy tasks, divide the complex ones into smaller chunks that make them more manageable, and set aside a limited amount of time daily to focus on life admin tasks. I created my spreadsheets to help you get through your tasks as quickly as possible, but also to enjoy the journey so you are more likely to stick with it!
