In the book Life Admin Hacks, the authors talk about the problem of life admin. Arguably, life is more complicated today and comes with more administrative load. According to a Life Admin survey in 2021, 21% of Australians had reduced their workload due to home admin demands. 47% of participants said they might pursue career opportunities if their home admin was under better control.
To free your time, authors Mia Northrop and Dinah Rowe Roberts recommend lists (lots of lists), spreadsheets for comparisons and batch processing in order to keep track of admin and save time.
Introducing batch processing to save admin time
You might batch process at work to save time. There’s a time investment setting up to start work, and grouping similar tasks together saves that setup time as you only do it once. For example, having fixed times of the day to answer emails all in one go. Or completing all writing tasks in one go like reports, blog posts or assessment feedback.
You can use the same idea to batch process at home. Set aside 10-20 mins on a Saturday morning or one evening to complete your home life admin. This might include paying all invoices for the week, claiming on NDIS, and checking bank accounts. By having all the information, apps and tabs open that you need in one go it makes it faster to process multiple similar items at once. Time saver! In Life Admin Hacks, they call this an ‘Hour of Power’, but it’s just bundling admin together and batch processing.
Minimise and automate life admin so you can spend more time doing whatever brings you joy.
LIFE ADMIN HACKS
Recommended Reading
Life Admin Hacks – podcast, book, online resources
Get more in the 21 day Find Your Balance series, from evening routines to organisation.