The Modern Executive’s Guide to Work-Life Balance with a Personal Assistant
How a Personal Assistant Can Help You Reclaim Time and Focus
Since the pandemic, work and life have blended together more than ever with the introduction and prevalence of working from home. All of a sudden, we found ourselves faced with the increasing demands of home life literally surrounding our daily workload. It seemingly became less acceptable to outsource because many thought “I’m home! I can just do it myself!”, without recognizing that the time needed to handle these personal responsibilities didn’t just appear out of thin air simply because work was happening from home.
Enter: part-time personal assistants; dedicated support for handling the daily life overflow like picking up groceries, returning all those Amazon boxes, and scheduling that long overdue doctor’s appointment that you couldn’t bring yourself to wait on hold for.
Because You Are BusyDetermine What You Can Delegate
Think about your work day- what administration or routine work does not NEED to be handled by you? Here are some examples of business admin that could easily be passed off to a personal assistant:
Collecting times for a meeting and scheduling that meeting
Entering data into a customer templated form
Creating a Google Drive filing system for records, profiles, and other misc information
Tracking receipts
Submitting registrations
Now think about your personal life- what is on your to-do list that does not NEED to be handled by you? Here are some examples:
Returning packages
Organizing your storage closet
Creating an invitation to your child’s birthday party
Researching travel options
Scheduling doctor’s appointments
Coordinating with a service provider
If it doesn’t NEED to be handled by you personally, it can be passed off to a personal assistant. By delegating these tasks, you’ll be able to focus productivity on the projects that matter, and free up your personal time.
How Do You Need Work/Life Balance?
Remote WFH Professional
As you attempt to get work done from your home office, you see the packages that need to be returned out of the corner of your eye, your child comes home from school and requires your attention, and those papers on your desk reminding you to make a doctor’s appointment or look into that product are piling up. If only those nagging tasks were being taken care of outside your office doors so you could focus.
Corporate Executive In-Office 5 Days/Week
9-5 is an understatement, and your in-office life is a daily grind with no time for your personal life. Forget about getting to the Genius Bar in time to repair your Apple Watch. And you’re definitely ordering in again because you haven’t had time to get groceries in a few weeks. We can’t control your work demands, but we can lighten the load at home so that your weekends aren’t spent catching up on your personal life admin.
Around the Clock Entrepreneur
Your emails are backing up, you need to meet with a client, and that registration still needs to be filled out! On top of that, you haven’t seen your friends in weeks, and you desperately need to fix your dishwasher. Believe it or not, work/life balance as an entrepreneur IS possible when you delegate these parts of your business and life so you can focus on bigger strategies- and not losing yourself in your work.
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Running errands
Returning Packages
Scheduling Appointments (Doctor, Car Service, etc.)
Making restaurant reservations
Online Shopping/Purchasing Gifts
Researching Vendors and Service Providers (Electricians, Contractors, Internet, etc.)
Scheduling and Overseeing Service Appointments
Help Organizing a Move
Home Organization
Stocking Groceries/Household Supplies
Researching and Book ing Family Vacations and Children’s After-School Activities
Managing Housekeepers and Nannies
Sorting Mail
Paying Bills
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Making sure everything lands in your Calendar(s)
Coordinating meetings and appointments
Organizing your inbox and flagging unread important emails
Drafting emails and corresponding on your behalf
Prepping documents
Acting as your internal and external gatekeeper
Booking travel and creating itineraries
Data entry
Organizing digital files
Managing business registrations and due dates
Online Research
FROM THE FOUNDERHow I Achieved Work/Life Balance When I Hired An Assistant
As The Middle has grown (thanks so so many of you!), I found myself buried in the day-to-day admin of scheduling interviews and managing our database of both PAs and clients. Moreover, when I moved to New York City in 2024, I found myself unable to step away from work until after the day ended in LA (3 hours behind). I spent dinners at my computer so LA clients wouldn’t feel neglected at the time they were available, and found it difficult to maintain a social life or leave my home at what was the end of the day in NYC. I knew I needed support and couldn’t always be online from east coast mornings to west coast evenings. Hiring my incredible assistant- importantly based in LA so she could cover west coast hours- not only gave me the freedom to tackle those larger strategy projects for growing The Middle (like finally getting our social media up and running!), but also helped me feel confident that my business was covered when I stepped out for a Friday night dinner or took time off for a family vacation. It was one of the best decisions I made for The Middle, and for myself- and I promise I am not just saying that. I hope you’ll see for yourself!
