If you’d have been properly informed as a kid that adulting was a Groundhog Day of never-ending tasks and to-do lists, you’d probably rethink your decision to want to grow up so fast. Staying on top of life’s administrative tasks is a continuous and ongoing process.
If you procrastinate these pesky little responsibilities, they’ll pile up until they create overwhelm and anxious feelings. Your nervous system won’t be able to decipher between finally making that appointment or getting chased by a bear.
As annoying as these adult chores are, the better you stay on top of them, the better your mental headspace. You’ll feel on top of your life, like you can accomplish any little menial tasks that come your way. A life admin day can be done as often as you need, depending on how hectic your life is. You might need to do it bi-weekly or monthly, or you may find that you need to tackle a few tasks every week so that things don’t descend into chaos. Today, we’ll go over how to complete a tailored life admin day to keep your life organized and your head above water.
Pick A Day-
The first thing you’re going to do is figure out a day that works best for you, where you won’t be interrupted or distracted. If you can, take a sick day or a half day during the week to bang this out, but if you can’t, a weekend works too.
Find a day where you have no other prior commitments, and you can give your life admin day your full attention. Depending on how much you need to accomplish, this might take you a full day or less. If your list is long is could even require more than one day. The more often you complete a life admin day, the shorter they’ll most likely become.
Life Admin List-
Write out a list of all the things that you need to complete. Keep in mind that a life admin day and a work admin day are two separate entities. The life admin day keeps your mind clear and tasks in order so that you have a calmer headspace to focus on work and other life goals. Your life admin day to-do list might include things like:
- Heading to the car wash for a deep cleaning
- Scheduling doctors, dentists, and all beauty appointments
- Opening mail
- Paying bills or setting up automatic payments so that you don’t have to stress about it
- Make sure your passport, ID, and insurance are all up to date and not expired or about to expire
- Refill your prescriptions
- Look over financials and financial goals
- Organize tax documents or get your taxes done during tax season
- Text people back or make plans to meet up
- Go over your schedule for the month or week and make sure nothing overlaps
- Go through your purses or bags and throw out garbage or things you don’t need
- Go through clothes and donate bags of things you’re not keeping
- Take photos and post the things you’re trying to sell on Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, Etsy, etc
- Get an oil change and/or put air in your tires if needed
- Fill up your gas tank (no, you won’t do it in the morning)
Checklist-
Whether you prefer the old-fashioned way with pen and paper or on your notes app, once you have your rough-drafted list of everything you need to complete, then create a more organized checklist of a reasonable number of tasks. Don’t initially list everything as it might not be realistic in one day, and it will lead to feelings of disappointment instead of accomplishment. Once you check off everything on your initial list, add a few more items that you know you can cross off.
Keep It Realistic-
This may seem like a lot, but they’re just ideas. Don’t overwhelm yourself if, realistically, you can’t do everything you need to do in one day. You can add a couple of things to get started with, and then after completing those tasks, assess your energy level and continue with a few more things. As with most things in life, getting started is the hardest part. Once you’ve cultivated a bit of momentum, the ball gets rolling, and things get easier.
Batch Tasks-
Go through your whole list of things to do during your life admin day and then organize them into batches. If a few of your tasks involve getting in the car and running errands, plan your route most effectively. Try not to do unnecessary laps around the city if you don’t have to. Aim to keep all tasks relatively within the same area if possible. Head to the farthest point first and then work your way back closer to home.
Depending on the time of day and traffic in your city, you might want to run errands first or at a time when you won’t hit rush hour traffic and waste extra time during your day. Do your digital admin tasks together, your paperwork tasks together, schedule all appointments at once, and go over your finances at once.
Digital Life Admin-
Since the modern age has become so digitized, a critical step in your life admin day is to do a thorough cleanup of your tech devices. Spend a bit of time unsubscribing from the free trial apps you’re about to get charged for, and delete photos you no longer need.
If your phone is scratched or glitchy, take it to get fixed. If your laptop is on its last leg, see if you can get it repaired or replaced. Go on an unfollow spree of accounts you don’t care to follow and clean out your email inbox.
Digital Life Admin:
- Unfollow accounts
- Delete apps you don’t use
- Unsubscribe from streaming platforms or apps that are about to charge you
- Fix your broken phone screen
- Delete old photos you don’t want to keep
- Fix or sell your broken laptop
- Delete emails and unsubscribe from email lists you no longer wish to receive
- Go through your files and folders and organize or delete them
Well-Being-
As much as you might not be super psyched to tackle all of the tasks that typically get pushed to the side, when you take care of these annoying mental tabs that take up a considerable amount of headspace, you’ll have a much clearer mind. When your mind is clear, you have more space to think clearly about your goals and bigger picture life stuff, as opposed to small irritations constantly tugging at you and asking for attention.
Final Thoughts-
Scheduling a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly life admin day can take a considerable amount of stress off your plate. Your mind is typically cluttered with multiple tabs open of tasks you need to remember to complete. When you can knock off all these items on your list regularly, you’ll have more space in your mind to focus on bigger life goals.
Begin by picking a day when you won’t be disturbed or have distractions. Make a rough draft checklist of all the things you need to check off your list. Batch these tasks together to complete all at once. Keep things realistic and don’t overburden yourself until you become a life admin day pro. You may need extra time on another day to get everything done.
From appointments, digital cleanup, bills and finances, car maintenance, and decluttering, you’ll feel 100x better at the end of the day. As hard as it can be to start, relax knowing that once you build some momentum up, it’ll help to carry you through the day. Hopefully, you can accomplish this life admin day regularly to give your mind some peace and calm.
