The Layout

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be the best assistant you can be, whether you work on reception, the general office, at board level.  It is important to have a sense of self-worth.  So here you are, you spend your day trying to be everything to everyone, except yourself.

The Problem
Only too often do administration employees leave at the end of the day feeling inadequate because they could not achieve everything that was on their to-do list for the day.  You don’t realise it, but you are setting yourself up to fail, my advice simply is:

“You need to stop loading up your To-Do List and sabotaging yourself”.

Taking on too much in the admin world is common, after all it is what you have been employed to do.  You are employed to be everything to everyone at all times.  It’s not actually in your job description, but it’s there, you can read between the lines.

Have you noticed that there is a fine line between continuing to make a meaningful contribution and burning out because of the over exuberance of team workers and / or line managers.  You keep track of everything you need to do by writing down your tasks and then ticking them off and before too long you create a never-ending list that becomes an obsession to get through by the end of the day.

The Solution
This is a negative place to be and only leads to feelings of inadequacy, burn out, and ultimately time off work due to stress.  So how do you change your ways?  It’s not easy.  You will battle with yourself, but in the long run you will know that something has to give and it isn’t going to be you.  So try some of the below points when others come to you for help

  • I cannot do this now but I can look at it tomorrow
  • What is the  deadline / negotiate a new timeline if you have to
  • Nominate someone else, who you believe might have time to take it on (Are you hand balling?  YES you are.)
  • Nominate someone else because you do not have the right skill set
  • Keep your boss in the loop, ask him/her to prioritise for you (It doesn’t hurt for line manager to know what other demands you have on your time.)

“Remember, you are number one and only you can take care of yourself ~ because no one else will do it for you”.