With many of us now adapting to the working-from-home lifestyle, we’re surprised to find ourselves turning to DIY, gardening and even colour-coordinating our bookshelves Marie-Kondo style to keep busy. The immediate satisfaction of planting some seeds or sorting a cupboard is a great mood-booster, but can it be replicated with the every day, often avoided, life admin tasks? In a recent study by Freeview, it turns out that the chores we’re most likely to put off are cleaning and housework, changing service providers, and reassessing bills and subscriptions. But with statistics showing that 60% of us feel a sense of achievement, fulfilment and calm when we do get around to completing life admin, this extra time at home could help us kick the habit to postpone once and for all.
Those niggling thoughts – ‘Did I cancel the gym?’, ‘I need to pay that bill’ – are often in the back of our minds as we go about our daily lives. But despite the noticeable improvements to our mood that ticking off life admin can bring, 34% of us are living such busy lives that we hardly ever get around to it.
Breaking that down even further, it looks like the younger generation usually waits around 4.8 weeks before cancelling an unused subscription, whereas the savvier 45 – 54 year olds usually tackle it within 3.6 weeks. As the study continued, it transpired that the top three reasons stopping us from getting on with this life admin were feeling tired after work, forgetfulness, and lack of time.
Starting to feel a little too relatable? Fear not - we’ve worked with Productivity Coach, Juliet Landau Pope, who has shared with us the best ways to keep on top of those household duties that we so enjoy avoiding.
Be accountable
One of the best ways to motivate yourself to get life admin done, especially when you’re working from home, is to make yourself accountable to someone else. Committing to a deadline and sharing that promise can help you to overcome procrastination. If you need to pay bills, for example, make a plan and then message a trusted colleague or friend. Be specific about the task and the time frame; tell them what you will do and when you will do it, then it’s far more likely that you will!
Change views
Working from home and staying on top of your life admin can be particularly difficult when you’re trying to do both in the same location. If you don’t have a separate home office, you’re likely to be using the same desk or kitchen table. It might seem impossible to differentiate between roles, but one solution is to sit in a different place so that you vary the view of the room. Face indoors while working on work projects, then switch chairs and enjoy a garden view while you research payment plans online. Another option might be to listen to music while you’re dealing with personal admin but turn it off while you’re working.
Bullet point and prioritise
Whether you’re a pen-and-pencil person or an app aficionado, nothing beats the sense of overwhelm than making a list. Write down all the things that you’d like to accomplish while you’re at home. Be realistic and prioritise projects that you can manage on your own or with the help available.
Divide and conquer
Piles of paperwork cluttering up desks, surfaces or even floors is daunting. Now’s a great opportunity to regain control. The best approach is to divide and rule, or rather sift and sort into three categories: keep, recycle and shred. Then tackle the papers that you’re keeping, dividing them into sub-categories such as stuff to read or file.
Digital decluttering
If your inbox is jam-packed with irrelevant emails, newsletters and other forms of electronic junk, dedicate time to a digital declutter. Instead of scrolling through emails in the order received, i.e. according to date, try changing the settings to sort by sender. Then you can easily delete entire conversations or mailings from specific companies – it’ll save you tons of time and you’re less likely to be distracted.
Listen to your body clock
We all suffer from dips in energy at certain stages of the day; neuroscience explains this as circadian rhythms, levels of wakefulness that rise and fall during each 24-hour period. That’s why it’s so important to understand your own body clock and to know when you’re likely to be most (or least) productive. Instead of waiting till the end of a busy day to renew your car insurance or fill in a loan application, it might be better for you to set an alarm and wake up an hour earlier in order to deal with your admin.
Schedule appointments with yourself
When you’ve found the right time of day for you, planning can make all the difference. Rather than waiting for a day when you might feel like completing life admin (which may never come), schedule a date and time in your diary or calendar and hold yourself to it.
Stop the clock
Tasks such as opening post or paying household bills can sometimes feel tiresome and tedious. One solution is to set a timer – on your phone or laptop, perhaps – and see how much you can accomplish within 15 minutes. You’ll be surprised how many envelopes you can open or how many bills you can deal with when you’re up against the clock. Firstly, you’re less likely to feel bored if you know the session is limited. And secondly, it enables you to compete against yourself.
