Reframe To-Do’s
Ahhh, administrivia, how I (don’t) love thee.
In an interesting conversation on the topic, I was again reminded that one person’s joy is another’s burden.
I have seen administrivia described as “the mundane details involved in running an organisation or executing a process.”
Mundane is right. Over the years, I have observed that when I have too much administrivia filling the to-do list, it makes me less productive. Each of these itty-bitty tasks are not difficult, nor time consuming, on their own. But put them together and they can stop me in my tracks.
Give me a deep thinking, complex and focused project any day.
Yet when I mentioned the word administrivia to a colleague recently their eyes lit up.
“I love the satisfaction of crossing off all of the small admin-type tasks from my to-do list in one burst of effort - I feel so productive!”
Again, perspective is everything.
Not all of our administrivia can be outsourced (believe me, I’ve tried!) and, at these times, we can try reframing our relationship with it - or any other of our less favoured tasks.
I’m curious, how might a burst of concerted effort remove the burden of something on your to-do list?