If you have not read part 1 of this series you may want to really fast before jumping into this post.
One of my first challenges with using an Admin Block was knowing what to put into the block.
It’s easy to say non-urgent tasks go into this block. The problem is how do I define non-urgent?
It seems like everything that comes across my plate is “urgent” according to someone.
After thinking about this for a few days I created the general guidelines below to help identify what goes into my Admin Blocks.
My Admin Block is for:
Responding to non-urgent email and Slack messages
Completing non-urgent paperwork like Credit Card recaps, POs, etc
Completing non-urgent quick requests and help desk tickets
So how do I define non-urgent?
You will notice a trend in my guidelines. My Admin Block is for non-urgent tasks.
I define non-urgent tasks as tasks that do not have a deadline OR the deadline is after my next admin block.
For example yesterday I got an email from a vendor about scheduling a meeting for next week.
Prior to my admin block time I would have had to find some time during my day to respond which means I would be thinking all day that I needed to respond which means that I wouldn’t have been focused on a big project I’m working on.
Now with my admin block, I marked that email as something to follow up on and forgot about it.
At 2:30 today when my Google Calendar said it was time for my admin block I opened up my email, went to my follow up label, and fired off a quick response.
The best part was since I had a time scheduled for this task I didn’t have to work to remember to do it or stress out about finding a time to get it done.