[Ep 69] The Admin Reset: The Weekly Workflow That Buys Back 5 Hours

WEBVTT
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.840
Quick question.
00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:05.280
How many tasks are you carrying in your head right now?
00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:09.119
Not on your to-do list in your head.
00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:15.839
Because admin overload isn't just what you're doing, it's what you're remembering.
00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:29.920
It's the email you haven't replied to, is the client you need to follow up with, the file you can't find, the invoice you keep forgetting, the post that you meant to publish, the quick request you still have not done.
00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.759
And yes, it's the meeting that you have not prepared for.
00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:49.359
If you sit down to work and your brain starts scanning what am I missing, what's urgent, who's waiting, and before you've done anything important, you're already tired, then this episode is for you, friend.
00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:51.679
Welcome back to the systemized business.
00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:53.359
I am your host, BK.
00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:00.479
I am a business operations specialist, and today I'm sharing my admin reset.
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:05.200
This is a weekly workflow that buys back your time.
00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.239
It reduces decision fatigue.
00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:14.000
It helps you execute without feeling like your business is eating you alive.
00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:22.879
This is especially for you if you start your day in your messages or your email and you never come out.
00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:33.120
If you work all day but you never really feel in control of your day, if you find yourself reactive rather than proactive.
00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:40.719
This is especially for you if you have been trying to be consistent, but the admin keeps winning.
00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:47.200
Because admin overload isn't a character floor, it is a workflow problem.
00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:53.359
By the end of this episode, you will have a weekly rhythm that you can implement immediately.
00:01:53.599 --> 00:02:00.400
And I'm going to give you a seven-day experiment so you can test it out for yourself.
00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:16.080
Alright, so before we get into the weekly rhythm, we need to have an understanding and to put a name to the three things that drain and steal our most productive hours.
00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:23.039
The first one is using your inbox as your task manager.
00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:32.800
You know, email has a way of just feeling productive because you are responding, you feel like you're on top of things.
00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:38.240
But most inbox work is not progress, it's just maintenance.
00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:45.599
When your inbox is your to-do list, you end up rereading the same emails over and over.
00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:52.080
You search for that one message that you can't quite remember when it came in.
00:02:52.319 --> 00:03:03.520
Um, you're replying to things that don't really matter, and then it it keeps you carrying open loops all day.
00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:06.800
And how do you know this is this is you?
00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:13.199
If you open your email and you're immediately scanning it, like, oh what am I forgetting?
00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:24.639
If you're leaving emails unread or you flag them so that you can come back to them later, you're basically treating those as tasks.
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:35.120
If you're responding in a rush because you're afraid of missing something, then yep, that means your inbox is your task manager.
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:46.960
And the cost isn't just the time, the cost is your attention because your brain is trying to remember everything that you haven't captured.
00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:56.400
Email should not be where our tasks live, but email should begin as the trigger for tasks, not the storage unit.
00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:07.759
Okay, so the second thing is that just drains our time is context switching, and this is so subtle, right?
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:21.279
You sit down to do something important like write a proposal or create content or even deliver client work, but you keep interrupting yourself with small, non-urgent things.
00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:35.439
You pick up your phone, you open up your calendar, and if you work from home, you know, something catches your eye, and you think yourself, you think to yourself, huh, maybe I could quickly put a load of laundry while I while I do this.
00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:39.439
Okay, I'll do that quickly and then get back to the document.
00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.000
And then another message comes in.
00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.160
And you know what?
00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.199
And we've talked about this before on the podcast.
00:04:47.360 --> 00:05:00.879
Every time you switch from one task to another, you get hit with something called restart text, and your brain has to reload, it has to kind of reboot.
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.240
What was I doing?
00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.199
Where was I?
00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:04.959
What was my point again?
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:14.319
So you feel busy, but you never get into deep focus enough to create meaningful input.
00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:24.399
And if you've ever said to yourself, huh, I've worked all day and I've got nothing done, then it might be that context switching that is the reason.
00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:41.199
And I found that being um, I've really tried the past few months to be very intentional about um protecting my like deep work focus time.
00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:43.920
Because that's what we need.
00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:53.759
We need to protect that time, not kind of build the or will ourselves um to to work more, to work harder.
00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:01.519
And then the third one is the third thing that really wastes time.
00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.920
Oh my goodness, is unclear handoffs.
00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:31.199
And people think handing off work from one person to the uh another matters only if you have a team, but even as solopreneurs, we hand work off to our future selves, and the problem is the same because if your workflow isn't clear, then you end up redoing the work.
00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:39.199
You forget the decisions that you made the first time, and then you spend time remaking those decisions the second time.
00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:40.560
You know what I mean?
00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:47.040
So you keep jumping back into things because nothing is clearly defined.
00:06:47.360 --> 00:07:07.439
And if you have a if you have an assistant, if you have a small team, then um unclear handoffs show up as constant questions, the needing to clarify over and over, incomplete tasks, um, missed or unclear expectations.
00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:14.399
And then you end up taking the work back because it's actually faster if you just did it yourself.
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.000
And that's how founders get stuck doing the work that they should not be doing.
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:28.480
It's not because they cannot delegate, it's because the system for delegation is not set up correctly.
00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:46.000
So those are the three things that really drain our time and keep founders stuck in low-value work, using your inbox as your to-do list, context switching, and then unclear handoffs.
00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:50.000
And so this is where the admin reset comes in.
00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:54.399
We stop trying to be responsive all day.
00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:02.959
We build a rhythm that contains the admin, that protects your focus and makes your operations predictable.
00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:13.120
So here's the principle that we want to remember before we get into the nitty-gritties of this admin reset rhythm, right?
00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:19.360
Here's the principle work expands to fill the space you give it.
00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:23.839
And this is so true for admin tasks as well.
00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:30.319
If you let them bleed into your whole day, that is exactly what they will do.
00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:52.000
But if you contain them into structured blocks, it becomes more manageable, and so this is the four-step rhythm, um, four-step admin uh reset rhythm of weekly planning, daily triage, deep work, and ops cleanup.
00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:59.440
Okay, those are the four steps: weekly planning, daily triage, deep work, and ops cleanup.
00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.960
So, step one is the weekly planning block.
00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:12.720
And I like to set this as 45 to 60 minutes once a week, either on a Sunday evening or a Monday morning.
00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.799
Um, but the purpose of this is quite simple.
00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.960
You decide once, not all week.
00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:26.720
You decide what you are doing once and not every time you sit down to work.
00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.399
So here's the structure.
00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:33.200
Um, and if you want to take out your notebook, make notes.
00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:50.639
So here's the structure: you scan, you open up your calendar, you scan, you scan it, you look at your week, you look at what tasks or events are fixed, you know, calls or appointments, deadlines, personal uh things that you have on your calendar.
00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:58.000
You get a high-level view of what your week looks like, what times you have available.
00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:07.200
You scan your projects, you open up your project management tool if you use one asana, clickup, notion, whatever it is that you use.
00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:16.240
You look at your active clients, you look, you look at your active projects, you look at what are your active deliverables for this week.
00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:18.639
Okay, we're still high-level.
00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:24.320
Now you think to yourself, okay, um, three things.
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.799
Rule of three pick your three outcomes for the week.
00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:36.879
We'll go a little bit deeper into this particular thing, but you choose your top three priorities for the week.
00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:53.279
Okay, now that you have that information, what's on your calendar, what's uh on your projects, like what do you have to what deliverables you have this week, you can time block your week now.
00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:01.039
In time blocking your week, you want to schedule one daily triage time.
00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:03.360
This is 20 to 30 minutes.
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:10.480
We'll get more into this what uh in terms of what happens during these 20 to 30 minutes.
00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:18.240
So one daily triage time, you schedule at least two deep work blocks.
00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.399
So this is 60 to 90 minutes within your calendar.
00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:31.120
Two sets of these, and then one ops cleanup block, 30 to 60 minutes at the end of your week.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:39.279
You can choose, okay, on Friday, I'll have my ops cleanup block for 30 minutes uh Friday afternoon.
00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.559
So now that we have these blocks, right?
00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:49.759
We have one daily triage time, we have two deep work blocks, and we have one ops cleanup block.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.559
So it's within these blocks that we will batch our work.
00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:01.039
So you're not starting each day trying to figure out what needs to be done.
00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:05.759
You've already decided what you you know, you've already decided that.
00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:20.639
And this, even just doing this step, is like very it is there's immediate relief because you've now eliminated decision fatigue.
00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:28.720
So now let's get into each of these blocks and see what exactly are you doing within these blocks of time.
00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:34.639
Now we've have we have a high high-level view of our week.
00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:40.000
Let's take a look at block number one, which was our triage block.
00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:47.039
We've given ourselves 20 to 30 minutes every day to communicate, not create.
00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:53.600
We are communicating during this 20 to 30 minute triage block.
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.679
And this happens every day, by the way.
00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:06.320
So the triage block includes responding to emails, responding to WhatsApp messages or DMs or voice notes, uh, giving quick approvals.
00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:24.879
Now, if you find that within either emails or messages or from your team, these contain tasks, then you have to be critical and make judgment and make a judgment about how long these will take.
00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:33.759
Okay, so and the rule of thumb that I have is that if it takes under two minutes, then do it right then.
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:40.240
If it takes more than two minutes, then capture it as a task and then you schedule it.
00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:57.360
Because what erodes our day is starting a 20-minute task inside triage, which remember is only 20 to 30 minutes, and then you start a task that takes 15 minutes, and then you're down a rabbit hole.
00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:03.279
So this triage block, remember, is for communication, not creation.
00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:08.000
Once your 30 minutes is done, then that's done.
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:09.840
Triage has to stop.
00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:22.240
You're not catching up on the internet, you're not wandering into tasks, you're what you are doing is closing communication loops and moving on.
00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:23.440
Okay.
00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:30.639
So let's move on now to our second block, deep work blocks.
00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:36.320
These you have two, at least two of them a week.
00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.159
Two per week is my minimum.
00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:48.399
So it's great if you can do more, but start with two so that you can ease into the rhythm, right?
00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:59.440
Each block is 60 to 90 minutes, and this is where you do the work that grows the business.
00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:17.120
We're talking client delivery, we're talking creating your offer or your product, uh, content batching, sales outreach, improving your onboarding process, building your standard operating procedures, and these are just examples.
00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:23.360
This is where you stop, you stop being reactive and you start being strategic.
00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:30.080
So, this is the time that you need to be like fiercely protective.
00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:33.440
So, no notifications, turn those off.
00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:39.519
Work or try to work with one tab open at a time.
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:48.399
In other words, have a single objective because tabs can be open, yes, on our computer, but tabs can be open in our head too.
00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:56.559
So, we want to have a single objective, no context switching, no checking this, opening that thing.
00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:00.960
Oh, I need to do uh this one, two, three thing real quick.
00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:13.679
And your brain is going to resist this at first, it's going to be all over the place, and it's gonna think, oh my gosh, I don't have enough time.
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:29.120
But we are doing, we have one single objective for this time, and the you know, because the problem is it's not that there aren't enough hours in the day, and and I'm sure we know this, right?
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:35.759
It's not that we don't have enough hours in the day, most of our time is not enough.
00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:48.799
Problem can be solved by just having fewer interruptions and focusing on one thing, so that's the deep work block, right?
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:59.600
And then we have our ops cleanup block, and this is 30 to 60 minutes once a week, usually at the end of the week.
00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:03.440
And this is just your business operational housekeeping.
00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:16.880
So this is where you update your tasks, you close loops, you file documents, you check on your pipeline or your customer relations man uh relationship management system.
00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:19.039
Gosh, that's mouthful.
00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:29.920
Um, you check where how your clients are pro progressing, how um how things are doing, you're checking your systems, you're reconciling invoices.
00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:47.440
Maybe you're looking at and reviewing automations that have been running, maybe some have failed, so you are fixing those or kind of looking at those a little bit closer, you're resetting templates for the next week, for example.
00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.680
So you can actually also do this at the end of each day.
00:17:51.839 --> 00:18:01.920
I it really does depend on the type of business and the the things that are um are happening in your business from week to week and from day to day.
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:23.359
But usually it's okay to do it at the end of uh the week to just to do an operate operational deep dive, closing the loops for the week, updating your project management tools, making notes for the following uh week, basically setting yourself up for success next week.
00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:29.759
So, yeah, this is really nice because think of it like resetting your kitchen the night before.
00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:35.200
It's not glamorous, nobody really likes it until you walk in the morning.
00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.119
You walk in in the morning, right?
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:44.400
You'll be so glad you took that extra bit of time just to put things in order.
00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:56.880
And yeah, now you can get to the business of making your coffee and getting your you know day started instead of wasting time with yesterday's tasks or last week's tasks.
00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:08.720
Um yeah, so those are that that's the ops um that is the ops cleanup block at the end of your week.
00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:13.279
So now remember I mentioned the rule of three?
00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.480
Here's the part that makes the whole rhythm work.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:23.519
Um you need to know and work within your limits.
00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:35.440
We need to realize and appreciate that our energy has limits, our brain has limits, and we should respect those.
00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:49.359
Your week only really needs three outcomes, three goals for the week that will um help you work towards reaching your bigger, your bigger business goals.
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:56.240
We don't want to have ten goals, we don't want to have everything as a goal.
00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:59.440
We just need to have three.
00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:07.920
And here's how I recommend choosing what three goals to have for the week.
00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:16.079
Have one revenue outcome goal, something that supports money coming in.
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:17.519
Is it proposals?
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:18.559
Is it follow-up?
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:20.640
Is it content that sells?
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:22.079
Is it outreach?
00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:28.640
The second one is have a delivery or retention outcome goal.
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:33.119
This is something that improves your client or your customer experience.
00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:44.720
So a milestone, a fix, an upgrade, something that will make their experience with you and your business that much more special, which will make them happy.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:49.519
And happy customers are more likely to stay with you for the long haul, right?
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.440
And lastly, pick one systems or operational outcome goal.
00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:00.319
This will be something that will make your business easier the next week.
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:12.960
This can be something uh like fixing a workflow or an automation, writing a standard operation, uh operating procedure and an SOP, or creating a template.
00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:17.599
So here's an example of a rule of three weeks.
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:33.119
Revenue is my uh send three proposals, delivery, finish client onboarding revamp, and then systems, automate booking to intake to welcome email.
00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:42.160
Three things, and those are not three small things, those are three big things that those will fill your week, right?
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:50.000
Because what we don't want to do is have everything a priority, because that means nothing is a priority.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:56.319
So the rule of three keeps your week realistic and your execution clean.
00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.759
So let me address two things.
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.839
Some of you might be thinking as you're hearing me go through this.
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.720
You might be thinking that uh my day is too unpredictable for this.
00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:14.480
And my response is then you need this rhythm even more.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:20.400
Because unpredictability is exactly why you need containers.
00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.279
Of course, life is messy.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.880
Sometimes it doesn't go as planned, uh, as planned.
00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:40.079
We don't aim for perfect days, we aim for stable anchors, and the anchor in this case is one triage time, one deep work block, one shutdown ritual.
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.400
You might also be thinking, I have clients who message me all day.
00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:49.440
I have requests left, right, and center.
00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:50.720
What do I do?
00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:52.319
This won't work for me.
00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:00.480
But friend, that sounds like a boundary problem to me, not a workload problem.
00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:06.480
You can still be responsive without being consistently available.
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:17.519
You can absolutely let people know that you check your emails or you check your messages at X and Y time every day.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:26.240
If it is urgent, then let them indicate uh that in the subject line if it's an email.
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:41.839
Unless you literally, unless you are literally in the business of saving lives, your clients don't need instant replies, they just need constant delivery.
00:23:42.880 --> 00:24:09.359
Let me take a quick pause here and let you know if admin overload, if this sounds um like you, if you sound like it need you need more help, and if admin overload is stealing your best hours and you need help designing a weekly rhythm that you can actually stick with, go ahead and book a free clarity call.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:18.480
We'll go through pinpointing the biggest friction points in your tools, in your communications, in your calendar, in your handovers.
00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:22.720
Then we can map out the fastest fix for you.
00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:26.079
So take a look at the link in the show notes.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:32.160
Alright, so here's your mini action.
00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.519
This is a seven-day challenge.
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:39.680
Calm down, it's only seven days, not forever.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:43.440
You're going to implement uh three things.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:49.119
You're going to go through the admin reset.
00:24:49.200 --> 00:25:05.440
So you're going to uh look at your calendar, you're going to look at your projects, you're going to look at your um your week, and you're going to choose a time that you can schedule in your triage block.
00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:08.720
So the 20 to 30 minutes once a day.
00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:20.079
Then you're going to schedule your deep work blocks a minimum of 60 minutes, put it in the calendar, treat that as a non-negotiable meeting.
00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.119
Put that in and stick to it.
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:31.279
And then you're going to put in your ops cleanup, uh, stroke shutdown ritual.
00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:43.279
You can have this uh five to ten minutes at the end of the day, or uh 30 to 60 minutes at the end of the week, whatever you work, whatever works for you.
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:53.680
So one triage time, one deep uh work time, at least one, and then one a shutdown ritual.
00:25:53.839 --> 00:26:06.079
What we'll be doing is capturing those loose tasks, we'll be choosing tomorrow's first tasks, and then we're gonna close our laptop.
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:08.480
That's it.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:17.599
The goal for this week is not to do more work, but to rather stop carrying work in our head.
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:26.319
And if you want an extra layer for the experiment, here's the question to ask at the end of each day.
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:32.240
Did I protect at least one block for what matters?
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.119
That's the question you ask yourself.
00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:40.720
Did you protect at least one of these blocks for what matters?
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:44.799
I'd love to hear how this works for you.
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:50.880
And if this episode helped you, subscribe or follow the Systemized Business Podcast.
00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:56.480
Share it with a founder friend who will find this episode helpful.
00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:58.960
And I thank you so much for listening.
00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.720
I'll talk to you in the next one.
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:02.000
Bye for now.