{"id":9256,"date":"2010-06-06T02:48:58","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T07:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=9256"},"modified":"2010-06-06T02:48:58","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T07:48:58","slug":"how-i-get-so-much-done-letting-an-alter-ego-be-the-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/how-i-get-so-much-done-letting-an-alter-ego-be-the-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Get So Much Done, Letting an Alter Ego Be the Assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was talking to a friend earlier this week and sharing how I manage to get along without an assistant.\u00a0 I’ve had them in the past and learned a lot from it.\u00a0 I’m one of those people that like for everyone to “have it in writing.”\u00a0 Whatever our agreement is, whatever I expect from you<\/em>, that way there are no misunderstandings.\u00a0 So I created a list of duties for the assistant to do.\u00a0 It tells what gets filed where.\u00a0 It tells the step by step process for logging in a new client or getting someone on the subscription list.\u00a0 That way, anyone can sit at that desk in that back office – the assistant’s office – and they can pick up the list of duties and go to the in-box and know just what to do and how to do it.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s been helpful when a friend volunteers to help, or when I can talk my cousin into giving a hand.\u00a0 And it even helps me, when I have a free hour and think, let me go do the assistant’s filing real quick, since it’s all in one place for me.\u00a0 It helps me a lot.<\/p>\n

It’s really just about focus.\u00a0 When I sit down at the computer, I may have an idea of what I’d like to do, and a list of things I will do that day, but my habit of checking email first usually derails me for several hours. I get a lot of it and I like to respond to people right away, so it takes awhile.\u00a0 And, of course, 90% of the work comes in by email.<\/p>\n

I should learn to make separate time to check email and make separate time for magazine layout and separate time for administrative work – where that is all I do. Like I do when I prepare the assistant’s inbox: this is for her, I’ll leave this for her, too…<\/em> And then I set that box on the assistant’s desk.<\/p>\n

That way I don’t feel pressured, because it’s out of “my” hands, and when I have that extra hour, I can do the assistant’s work since it’s already there waiting for me, with no distraction.\u00a0 I just separate myself into “I’m the assistant now” and do her work.<\/p>\n

That’s what works for me.<\/p>\n

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