Annie:
Welcome to the Whole Assistant Podcast. I'm your host, Annie Croner. I'm a former assistant who's passionate about our profession, and I'm also a certified coach who's invested in your success. You've come to the right place if you want to know what it looks like to stand in your power and achieve success as an assistant. Overwhelm and burnout now on to today's episode. Welcome to the last of a series on hacks. So if you're just joining us, if you're new to the podcast or haven't been listening in a while, I have done a series of hacks. The first episode that was hack related was two episodes ago, and it was my brain hacks.
Annie:
I highly recommend you go back and listen to that episode. And then last week I did an episode on Lifehacks, and today I'm going to be sharing my favorite hacks as an executive assistant, my favorite work hacks. But before I get started, I do want to share about an upcoming event that I'll be hosting on September 18 and 20th. And this is my strategic partnership masterclass. So I'm going to give you a solid framework for having the strategic partnership you've always wanted, because you shouldn't have to settle for last in your executive assistant role. I'm going to help you embrace your bad assery, and I'm going to cover a solid framework for aligning with your executive one overlooked skill that has a power to break trust and how to stop playing whack a mole and show up like a boss. You're definitely going to want to check out this masterclass. Please click the link in the show notes below to register or go to wholeassistant.com/partnership.
Annie:
That's wholeassistant.com/partnership, and there again, I link to it in the show notes as well, so please register for that free masterclass. This is one of my favorite events to host. I've hosted it a few times now, and the turnout is always really good, as are the reviews. And I want to get this information in as many hands as possible. So please join us for this masterclass. There again, it's going to be September 18 and September 20. I've got a couple different times in there for you to choose from, so please pick a date and join us. I would love to have you join us.
Annie:
Okay, we are talking today all about my favorite work hacks, so we're gonna go ahead and get started. I was thinking about this episode, and I was thinking about what I wanted to share and honestly, my favorite work hacks are how I like to work in general. I like to create systems, I like to strategically align with my executive, and I also really like to manage my mind effectively. But I was actually thinking about this in terms of hacks. Like what are some quick tips and some quick wins that I can share with you all that will help you level up and will also feel like a quick win. So my first strategy, or my first hack is to take regular breaks. Now, I realize that for most of us this is counterintuitive because most of us feel either guilty about taking breaks or we feel like we just want to maintain productivity. But actually taking regular breaks is a great productivity strategy.
Annie:
Our brains can really focus on one thing for 45 minutes to an hour before we of get that glazed overlook and start to zone out. Now, I will give one exception to this rule. If you are in a state of flow, meaning that you are in the zone, you are getting things done. That's great. Stay in the zone for as long as you can. I love it when I'm in that state of flow. But more often than not, especially as executive assistants, our time is chopped up so dramatically and so drastically that our brains can really only focus on one thing for maybe 40 minutes, maybe an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes if you're lucky. And taking regular breaks has several benefits, one of which is to assimilate information.
Annie:
So I don't know if you guys have ever had this experience where you're working along and you come up against a roadblock and you just decide to sleep on it. You just decide to give yourself a break, you return to the task, and the solution seems obvious. This is what I mean by assimilate information, right? Like, you take a little bit of a break, you come back and the solution presents itself. So, breaks work as a reset for our brains. Even getting up, stretching your legs, going, and having a chat at the water cooler, using the restroom, whatever you got to do to take a step back from your screens for a minute and just allow your brain to rest, because your brain at rest is a very powerful tool. And honestly, I'm a firm believer that taking regular breaks actually increases productivity. And I know that feels counterintuitive to a lot of us, but it's absolutely true because of this assimilation feature that our brain tends to do whenever we do rest. So that is my first hack for you today.
Annie:
The second one, you probably heard me say, if you listen to this podcast for any amount of time, and that is to close out of your inbox. Now, I am not saying to close out of your inbox for hours on end. I am not saying do close out of everything for hours at a time. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying closing out of your inbox, closing out of slack, stopping that stream of incoming information, even if only for 20 minutes, can be life changing and revolutionary in terms of your productivity. And what I love about this too is it also promotes focus. And the focus brain is a less stressed brain, and a focused brain is also a not burnt out brain. We often burn ourselves out by trying to focus on all the things all at once instead of really getting crystal clear on what the priorities are, having our primary to do list that we work from and then kicking butt and taking numbers, focusing, going heads down on a project or on a task until it's completed, and then looking at all the things.
Annie:
So I would challenge you all to close out of your inbox even if only for 20 minutes. Now, I'm not saying don't get buy in as well. I'm not saying close out of your inbox and go cold turkey and not tell anybody you definitely want to get the buy in from your executive. Let him know an alternative way to reach you. I always let my executive know he could text me in the case of an emergency and then just go ahead and email me if it can wait half hour, 45 minutes to an hour for me to reply. At the end of my time working as an exit as an executive assistant, I was actually able to close out of my inbox for a couple hours at a time. But that was a muscle that I built over time. And I got to tell you that closing out of my inbox for me was life changing.
Annie:
So give it a shot and let me know how it goes for you. The next hack I'm going to tell you, I'm going to share with you today. I already shared on our brain hack episode and that is tell me more. So I found that oftentimes we can get really defensive when something is brought to our attention that we either didn't know about or we made a mistake, or our executive wants something one way and we thought they wanted it another way. And instead of getting defensive, I love the idea. Asking the question or prompting the person to tell me more, tell me more keeps me in curiosity. So when I'm discussing something with my husband in the evening, or even with my executive when I was working as a full time executive assistant and he would tell me he wants something and it seemed different or interesting to me, and I wasn't sure why. I would dig in a little bit, and I'd ask him to tell me more.
Annie:
And by asking him to tell me more, it kept my brain open to what he was actually going for. And so then I could come up with a creative solution, and I could think strategically on their behalf. So just consider tell me more as a strategy to keep you out of defensiveness, keep you in a place of curiosity, and also to keep you in a place where you can assimilate the information and get all the data that you need in order to make an informed decision and in order to perform the task accordingly and to perform it well. The fourth thing that I want to share with you guys today are, my fourth hack for today is to tidy up my space before I wrap up for the day. And this one I adopted man maybe only a couple years into my work as an executive assistant, because I found that when my desk was not tidy, it was really hard for me to function at a higher level, especially first thing in the morning, especially as I'm sitting down to my desk to have it ordered and have everything orderly made it so much easier for me to kick butt and take numbers all day long. And I honestly had my to do list ready also, like, that's another way that I would close out my day. I prepare my list for the next day in Trello. So I'd go in and I close out the day in Trello.
Annie:
I'd wrap up any final things that I needed to do for that day, and then I pull my items for the next day onto the board, and I plan out my day in advance. Now, it didn't always work out that way. I wasn't always able to execute all those things because, as you all know, things come up throughout our day that need attention. Other priorities will take precedence. But what I love is actually having a plan for my day and showing up for my day with a plan. Having organized desk and a plan for my day is a great strategy for ensuring that I'm showing up intentionally. And then also, I just have a sense of preparedness for my day now. Not to say there again, that things won't shift.
Annie:
That's the other thing I love about Trello, is that you can move things around super easily on your master to do list, and I love doing that. I'm a big fan of that. But it's also a really great strategy for feeling on top of things and for feeling like you're setting yourself up for success for the next day. So clean off that desk. Make sure everything is tidy. Even if you have lots of stacks, make sure you know where they are and you know what's in each, in each stack. And just try to make it pleasing to your eye. I also really, really like beautiful office supplies.
Annie:
Like if you come to my office ever at my house, I've got these beautiful file folders that have like little gold, shiny things in them. It's so pretty. I've got beautiful like pen holder on my desk and a beautiful wire rack. It's just all pretty things because I don't want to work an entire day surrounded by functional things, but not necessarily pleasing to my eye or calming to me. I also have the candles in my office, so whatever you got to do to make the space yours, I'm a big, big fan of. The last and final thing that I want to leave you guys with today is to batch similar tasks together. So batching saves you time. Switching between vastly different tasks can eat up as much as 40% of our productive time.
Annie:
That is a lot of time. And also why I'm a huge fan of monotasking and multitracking. Not multitasking, because switching between tests can eat up as much as 40% of our productive time. So we want to make sure that we are maximizing that 40% as well. We want to make sure that we are minimizing the amount of time it takes to switch between tasks and batching similar tasks together will do that for you. It also reduces mental fatigue. It takes a lot of mental energy to switch between tasks, and this energy can lead to burnout if you are not careful. This also promotes a state of focus and flow.
Annie:
And there again, flow or the state of being completely immersed in a task or project with an utter lack of self consciousness promotes overall satisfaction and happiness. So I'm going to give you a few examples of batching that I used to do as an executive assistant, and this one is really common. You probably heard me talk about it if you listen to this podcast for any amount of time. But I used to manage everything for my last executive, from his books to his financial statements to his estate. He had three homes, so I would actually group similar tasks together. I would get bills to pay for them throughout the entire week, and I would save up those bills for Thursday afternoon. That was my time to go in to pay the bills and to accept charges in quickbooks, to have a look at the books to make sure nobody had charged anything they shouldn't have to a credit card or that the credit card numbers hadn't gotten stolen, I would do a bit of an audit, and that was my time to manage all the financial aspects of my role. And it would have been very, very tempting for me to have played whack a mole with those things and to have paid the bills as soon as we got them and, you know, made sure that there was no outstanding bills ever.
Annie:
But that wasn't the most efficient way to work. Now, of course, on the rare, rare occasion that my executive said he needed something paid immediately, of course I would go in and pay it for them, but that was very seldom, it was very few and far between. And I think that we often give way to the pressure of wanting the thing just done and off our plate, and we are not showing up strategically for our day and thinking about what we can batch or group together that will serve us in our roles. Another thing that I like to batch were my expense reports and credit card reconciliations, because those are two financial things that I did for my executive and for myself, and that was just another way for me to streamline my week. And so those are a couple of examples of things that you could potentially batch. Other things that you could potentially batch are like errands or travel arrangements or event planning, just to give you some good food for thought. And I really want you to be more strategic with your time management. I really want you to be more strategic throughout your day.
Annie:
So this hack is really helpful to that end. Okay, guys, I hope you found this episode helpful. I know it's another short but sweet episode. I want to hear from you. What are some hacks that you plan on implementing in your life? And again, please join us for my embrace your badass three ways to level up your strategic partnership. Free masterclass September 18 and 20th. You can go to the link in the show notes to learn more. All right, guys, that is what I have for you guys today.
Annie:
Be intentional. Be whole. That is all for now. I help assistants apply the concepts I share on this podcast. If you're ready to take your growth deeper and you're curious whether working with me in a coaching capacity is right for you, please email me at [email protected] to schedule your complimentary discovery call.
