My purpose Isn't World Peace -
It's Creating a Little Peace in Someone else's world
What does purpose look like when you work in admin?
For me, sometimes it’s organising the workload. Sometimes it’s noticing what someone really needs.
And sometimes… it’s just making a cup of tea.
Real client. Real house move. A very real pile of boxes
There are the days when I have ‘admin’ work to do…
Actual, proper, admin-client work. The sort of work that is sitting there waiting for me and, ordinarily, I would just get on with. But on this particular afternoon, I decided to put it down.
My client was going out for a few hours and the following day she had an important meeting at home connected to the sale of her property. She’d mentioned it a couple of times throughout the day. Not in a big “I’m really stressed about this” way. Just little comments here and there. But I know my client.
I knew how important this meeting was. I knew how much was riding on the sale going smoothly, particularly as there’s also the purchase of her new home happening alongside it. I knew there were time constraints. I knew she already had plans in the diary for the new place. And I knew that any delays were going to cause a huge amount of stress.
So, although she was heading out that afternoon to help somebody else, I might add, I knew that somewhere in the back of her mind she’d still be thinking about the house and everything that needed doing before the next day. I also knew that the admin work in front of me could wait. There were no deadlines attached to it. Nothing terrible was going to happen because I put it down for an afternoon.
So I turned around and said:
“While you’re out, I’m going to put this work down and help get the house sorted.”
And that’s what I did.
Maybe this is what purpose looks like for me.
I’ve been thinking about “purpose” recently. It’s one of those words that can feel enormous, isn’t it?
We’re encouraged to find our purpose, live our purpose, build a business with purpose. And sometimes it feels as though your purpose needs to be something absolutely groundbreaking.
I’m not changing the world by sorting someone’s inbox and I’m definitely not achieving world peace.
But I’ve realised that perhaps that’s not what purpose needs to mean.
Maybe my purpose is simply about creating a little bit of peace in someone else’s world.
And when I thought about it, I realised this isn’t something that started when I set up Addicted to Admin. I’ve always been like this.
Sometimes it's just a cup of tea.
When I was employed, I ‘learned’ the people I worked with.
I could usually sense when the boss was stressed and sometimes the most useful thing I could do in that moment wasn’t another task.
It was turning up with a cup of tea.
I’ve always tried to understand the person I was working for rather than simply working my way through a list.
Because everyone’s different.
Something one manager wants dealt with immediately might be something another is quite happy to leave until tomorrow.
One person might mention something in passing and genuinely mean, “Whenever you get a chance.”
With someone else, you learn that the same little comment means, “This is going to sit in my head until it’s sorted.”
That’s why getting to know the person I’m supporting has always been important to me.
That doesn't mean everything gets dropped.
Of course, there are some things in admin that simply cannot wait.
Wages are wages. Deadlines are deadlines. HMRC certainly aren’t going to care that something else felt more important that afternoon!
Part of supporting someone properly is knowing when I need to say, “I know you want that done, but I really need to deal with this first. As soon as I’ve finished it, your task is next.”
But there are other times when I’ll look at what’s in front of me and say, “Shall I do this first? I know you’re going to want it sorted before such-and-such happens, and if we leave it, it’s going to cause a problem.”
That’s the bit of my work I think is quite difficult to put on a services page.
It’s not really “admin”. It’s knowing someone. It’s listening. It’s noticing the things they mention in passing. It’s understanding what’s important, rather than deciding what should be important based purely on what’s sitting at the top of a list.
too many tabs open?
Inbox
Diary
Payroll
‘That’ phone call
Home
Family
Tomorrow
The thing I’ve forgotten
Sometimes support is simply having someone quietly close a few of them.
The task isn't always the important bit.
I think this is something I’ve understood more and more since running my own business.
On paper, a lot of the things I do probably doesn’t sound particularly life-changing.
- Sort an inbox
- Organise a diary
- Deal with paperwork
- Chase something that's been forgotten
- Sort out a pile of receipts
- Make a phone call
- Even, tidy a house!
None of those things are going to change the world.
But perhaps that’s looking at it the wrong way.
Because the actual task isn’t always where the value is.
Sometimes the value is simply being able to think:
“I don’t need to worry about that anymore. Helen’s got it.”
And I really like that.
There’s a lot of noise in people’s lives. Work, businesses, homes, families, appointments, deadlines, emails, things they’ve forgotten, things they’re trying desperately not to forget…
If I can take one or two of those things away for someone, that’s useful.
Maybe, in its own small way, that’s the little bit of peace needed in someone else’s world.
I called my business Addicted to Admin because, ‘bizarrely’ for some, I genuinely do enjoy the stuff lots of other people hate!
Give me something to organise, sort out or get under control and I’m quite happy.
But the longer I do this, the more I realise that the admin isn’t actually the most important part of Addicted to Admin.
The person is.
> I want to know my clients.
> I want to learn their ways.
> I want to know when something really can wait and when something needs doing now because I know it’s going to bother them until it’s sorted.
> I want to notice when they’re stressed.
> I want to be able to offer an opinion when I think doing things in a different order will make their life easier.
> And yes, sometimes I want to put down the thing I’m technically there to do and help get the house straight because I know tomorrow is important.
It’s not going above and beyond. It’s not some grand customer-service strategy.
It’s just how I’ve always worked.
A little peace is enough
I don’t think my purpose is world peace. And thank goodness really, because that’s quite a lot of pressure to put on a woman with a laptop and a love of admin.
But maybe purpose doesn’t always have to be enormous. Maybe it can be making one person’s day a bit easier.
Taking one worry away.
Sorting the thing that’s been niggling at them.
Giving somebody a little more room in their head.
Helping them walk into an important meeting thinking about the meeting, rather than the twenty other things they were worrying about beforehand.
Or sometimes just recognising that the boss has had enough and appearing with a cup of tea.
