Are you one of those people who absolutely dreads doing admin? In fact, you actively avoid it where you can, letting it pile up until it becomes this monstrous task you have to dedicate days or even weeks to fixing? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone!
The fact is that some people just aren’t good at admin tasks. Their brains aren’t wired for it, and while they can complete the tasks, it’s a difficult and not very enjoyable process. But why is that, and how can you get around it to do those essential jobs?
This Is Your Brain
Let’s start out with some basic anatomy. In your head, you have a brain. Every human has a brain, but while they may look the same from the outside, every single brain is unique. This is because your brain contains billions of nerve cells and neuropathways, arranged in patterns that coordinate thought, emotion, behaviour, movement and sensation. Those neuropathways start being built from the day you were born and will influence not only which pathways are built where and how strong they are compared to others. This creates a sort of blueprint for what skills you will have later in life.
For example, it’s been proven that children who grow up listening to music develop strong music-related connections in the brain, and those musical pathways affect the way they think. People with this musical upbringing will typically have improved spatial reasoning, intuitive pattern recognition and rhythm, and it can even speed up the process of learning to speak. As children, our brains are primed to create these new neuropathways, and they are constantly growing and changing. So the experiences you have as a child will have a massive impact on how you function in adult life, from cooking and singing to admin skills!
This Is Your Brain On Admin
Your brain is doing all of this learning and developing for many years – in fact, your brain doesn’t reach maturity until you’re 25!
us into the world of admin. If you’ve ever thought that you just aren’t naturally good at admin tasks – it’s not something that comes easily to you, and you struggle to understand some of the basics – it’s probably not your fault. Your brain just isn’t wired for admin. Studies have shown that the way a person’s brain is wired directly impacts how well they perform simple and complex tasks, like admin. For the most part, your ability to perform admin tasks quickly and well depends on whether you have a high-modular or low-modular brain. Low-modular brains are better at performing more complex tasks that take time to perform, while high-modular brains are better at performing simpler tasks that can be done quicker.
Which Business Owner Are You?
When you first start your business, it’s pretty easy to stay on top of all your admin tasks. After all, there aren’t that many of them, and while you’re still scouting for your first clients you have all the time in the world to get them done. But as you grow and get busier those tasks become bigger and more complicated, and you have less time to get them done.
At this point, you might start to feel the crunch. And how you react to this admin pressure defines what kind of admin personality you are, and how you should proceed. In our experience, there are 4 kinds of person when it comes to admin:
- The Super Doer: These are the top of the pile – the people who are just built for admin. They are the person planning things, remembering birthdays for their clients and sending cards, giving out recommendations left and right, reconciling the bank account on the first of every month, all while generally keeping on top of everything. That doesn’t mean they are actually doing all of their own mind you – often the super doer is actually delegating or outsourcing some or all of those tasks, and being proactive about it so that nothing falls behind.
- The Reluctant Doer: The reluctant doer is more likely to experience admin as an obstacle. Something they have to do, but don’t really want to face. They might feel like their to-do list is endless, and that they are always several steps behind. The important stuff usually gets done, but often late or at the last minute. This can create problems or conflicts that just didn’t need to happen. Reluctant doers often feel like they’re underqualified to do the admin tasks in front of them – and sometimes they are!
Then, you have the other end of the spectrum. The business owners who really aren’t built for admin, and so they try to pretend it’s not there. Rather than face the tasks and just get them done, they can often be found procrastinating. They tend to fit into two camps:
- The Admin Avoider: The avoider is desperately trying to escape admin. They see it our there, flying right towards them at 50 miles an hour. And they duck. Or scribble our the task and write it again on tomorrow’s to-do list, day after day after day. They might make excuses for why ploughing through a to-do list is so hard, and often think they’re ‘bad’ at certain things, which gives them an extra reason to avoid the admin tasks. Deadlines are missed, and when it’s eventually done, the worst is usually rushed and a bit sloppy.
- The Admin Denier: Then we have the last, and worst. Where the avoider sees the problem and ignores it, the denier ‘doesn’t think there’s a problem. They’re either ignoring admin tasks entirely (and getting into big issues because of it), or finding someone else to take care of it all for them. The admin denier may not know they’re an admin denier. They may think that this whole admin thing isn’t such a big deal – that there isn’t really that much to get done. After all, won’t someone else step in before things get too bad?
See something you recognise in that list? If you’re honest with yourself, which kind of admin personality are you? And if it’s not what you want to see, what could you do differently?
One of the things you could do is outsource it! Admin is a necessity to business, so if you aren’t built for it, why not hire someone who is? Hiring a VA to support you with your admin is a simple process, and they can handle all of the niggly little admin tasks for you. Almost any admin task can be outsourced, which means you can get back to focusing on the work you’re good at, and more importantly, actually want to do. If you want to find out more, just get in touch with the team today.