‘It's tedious. It's repetitive': why life admin is awful, and how to do it anyway

The Guardian

5 days ago

Chantal Maher, a physiotherapy lecturer in Sydney, has a niggling life admin task on her mental to-do list. It has been on her mind for four years. 'I've tried to do it twice, but because I got married and changed my name I had to do a change-of-name certificate. That delayed it further. It was like a whole other hurdle,' she says.
The task is combining her two superannuation (pension) accounts, so that she only pays one admin fee. 'It's too annoying. There's incentive as I'd save money, but finding time for it is another thing.'
Mia Northrop, co-author of Life Admin Hacks, has encountered countless situations like this. She says people can get 'stuck' in different stages of completing a task. 'You might be really good at starting and really bad at finishing,' she says, or vice versa. 'So you need to know this about yourself so that you can overcome the challenge.'
When people struggle with admin, such as tax returns or creating a will, it can stem from fear of failure, Northrop says. 'It's tedious. It's repetitive. It is often asking us to work on things that we are not particularly good at or confident about. That's where a lot of procrastination can come into it because we aren't particularly proficient, or we're not passionate about it.'
'Everyone procrastinates to some extent,' says clinical psychologist Dr Catherine Houlihan, from the University of the Sunshine Coast. 'There's a bit of stigma around it, because many people say it's laziness or poor time management, and none of those things are true. It is actually a symptom of perfectionism.
'When people have very high standards for themselves, and they worry about doing things perfectly … then, due to the standard not being met, guilt and shame and self-detrimental talk can come in.'
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There's another reason Maher has put off her task – it seems harder than it needs to be. 'I feel frustrated because I think [the companies] could make my life easier,' she says. 'Part of me wonders if they make it deliberately awkward so we don't do it.'
Certain life admin tasks are irritating because you may only encounter them once. Associate Prof Micah Goldwater, a cognitive scientist at the University of Sydney, says we have to invest a lot of mental effort in learning new tasks. Then when we're done, it 'feels like there is very little use for it'.
'With online forms there's an initial block because … you're having to learn how to use the specific form,' he says. 'The functionality of all these forms is slightly different, and you have to be very detail-oriented and focused to work it out. Sometimes it seems like the trade-off isn't worth it.'
So what can a life-admin avoider do to tick off tedious tasks?
Northrop says she can't get passionate about doing her tax return, so she created a checklist for herself – she ticks off sub-tasks throughout the year. 'I have a folder where I save everything as I go so that when it comes to tax time, it's not overwhelming.'
Houlihan suggests incorporating rewards as you complete each stage. 'Do one thing first and then pause and do something more enjoyable, have a break and go back to it,' she says. When Houlihan tackles an unpleasant task, she will break for 'a pastry at a cafe, spending time in nature or watching the TV show I wanted to watch … a reward can help motivate us'.
Telling other people what you plan to do can be helpful, says Northrop, but Houlihan says it can be controversial too. 'You don't want people to nag you,' Houlihan says. 'That might give the tasks even more negative connotations' – which reinforces procrastination. 'But if you say to someone that loves and cares about you 'I want to do this by Friday', it can help you hold yourself accountable.'
The worse you feel about your ability to do a task, the less likely you'll be to attempt it, and then the worse you'll feel for not doing it. So choose your people wisely: 'Not someone who is going to be on your back, or going to make you feel bad if you don't do it.'
'If there's a task I have to do, rather than being on a vague to-do list, I put it into my calendar,' Goldwater says. Blocking off time in your day means it's more likely to happen, he says. 'Everything is in my calendar now. If it's not on the calendar, I will most likely forget about it. Life admin tasks are one of those things.'
Combining accountability buddies with blocking out time, writer and educator Tyler Alterman found a novel way to beat procrastination. On X, he posted that throwing a 'forcing party', where he and his friends got together to do life admin they'd been avoiding, was a huge success. 'A passport has been filed for, an inbox has been zero'd, a personal website has been created, & more,' he wrote.
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If your environment is working against you, it might help to remove some of that friction, Northrop says. 'Shut down distractions, turn off notifications, or listen to music that gets you in that flow state.'
If you're neurodivergent, 'it's extra challenging', she adds. 'There's no silver bullet. It's often a mixture of the physical environment and our own personality … I've had clients who have multiple children or health issues they're having to accommodate, and there are only so many hours in the day.'
'If boring tasks sit at the end of your day or the end of your week, they're probably looming in the back of your mind,' Houlihan says. 'The anticipation of how unpleasant it will be grows and grows.
'One quick tip is to flip your calendar upside down – start with the most boring things first and to get them out of the way.'
Some life admin is incredibly convoluted and taxing. At this point, it's worth considering engaging someone to help you navigate it, such as a social worker or solicitor.
Ines Jusufspahic is an immigration lawyer in Sydney who works with individuals and companies to complete working visas and partner visas. 'We take the angst out of it as much as possible,' the principal solicitor at Rocket & Ash Immigration Law says.
Jusufspahic has had clients return to Brazil, Argentina and the UK: they had avoided the paperwork for so long, there wasn't enough time to process their visas. 'This is often the biggest problem in their life, and there's often a time pressure,' she says. 'It's a process that people really dislike, and it's really confusing for some people.'
Houlihan says some people are chronic procrastinators, and the first step is recognising any patterns in your behaviour. 'If you've still got that piece of paper on your table, then is that the only thing that's still lying around?' she says. If it's a widespread issue, and causing negative thoughts, a therapist can help you identify and work through the possible emotional triggers and understand why. 'That's really the key to what to do about it.'
'I think we are often just being too hard on ourselves,' Houlihan says. 'We can become trapped in a cycle of heightened stimulation and being on the go, especially if you have young children, and we can have this sense of urgency that we just apply to all tasks.
'Actually take stock and think 'Do I need to do this now?''
Houlihan has put off renewing her passport, as it's not due for months. So she simply took it off her to-do list for now. 'Because I could just do with one less thing at the moment.'
Opting to take time for yourself instead can be an act of self-care, she says. Maher agrees: 'If my choice is to go for a run, read a book, see a friend or do life admin, I'm gonna choose the other three things every single day of the week.'