Book Review: Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens
Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens explores all the invisible administrative work that keeps our lives running. Think about all you do – paying bills and booking appointments to managing paperwork, planning holidays. As someone fascinated by organizing paperwork and making everyday life run more smoothly, I couldn’t resist this book.
So, what is Life Admin?
It’s the paperwork and administrative processes we encounter daily in modern life. The paperwork surrounding an activity, not necessarily the activity itself. For example, in a school situation it’s the annual registration for school itself, then course registration. Having to go out and purchase schoolbooks, stationery, equipment. In a work situation, it could be processes related to benefits, pension, or vacation. In both business and personal it’s all the paperwork related to preparing taxes. In your personal life it’s the shopping lists, bills to pay, the “to-do” lists, the birthday cards and gifts.
Emens describes Life Admin as not just the paperwork. It’s also the time it takes to schedule appointments, purchase gifts, plan an outing, vacation, or party. It includes creating the shopping lists, paying bills, returning products, dealing with mail.
The author describes it as a form of labor, another job that we must do to support our lives; a form of “invisible labor”.
The first part of the book was about identifying the various types of admin and its effects: both on our time and mental space.
What Type of Life Admin Personality Are You?
Emens creates a model for how different personality’s view admin – some embrace (yes, that would be me) and some avoid. She looks at both the good and bad ways admin can affect us – and then looks at strategies for tackling admin.
According to Emens, there are four personality types when it comes to life admin.
- Super Doer
- Reluctant Doer
- Admin Avoider
- Admin Denier
I found this fascinating – as an Admin Super Doer I’ve helped Admin Avoiders open bank statements and invoices dating back years, sorting them into categories. I’ve picked through drawers, plastic bags stuffed into closets, and boxes to find receipts, then enter them into spreadsheets for tax purposes. I’ve found birthday and holiday cards, unopened years after being sent.
Just understanding that there are different ways of dealing with admin opened my eyes and made me more empathetic to others’ ways of dealing (or not dealing) with life admin.
Admin Judgements
Are you super organized and don’t understand how others can’t be? Some people are able to just dismiss or ignore admin until it reaches a crisis – putting off filing taxes for a number of years, for example. Or not opening letters or paying bills until a utility is turned off. To a super doer- someone who embraces admin – it would be easy to sit in judgement. I’ve been amazed to hear professionals confess that opening envelopes can frighten them so it’s easier to shove unopened mail into a bag and put it in a closet than take the time to open the envelope and see what’s inside.
Admin Compassion
The author talks about admin compassion. It’s not always obvious to others what “invisible admin” we all do. In the current world/society many institutions download their admin onto their customers (think automated check-out machines where you must do the work).
Life Admin, Death Admin and Helping Others
Ironically, one of the biggest examples of life admin is death admin. One of the greatest admin gifts you can give someone is in providing a list of what you want to have done for your funeral. Notes on where to find the information for the “admin” that comes with death – closing bank accounts, closing/ending subscriptions, applications, etc.
You can get more insight into this in my blog post: How to Create a Final Plan—and Leave Memories, Not Messes
How can you best help someone who is grieving? Food, the universal need, comes first, but what about putting together a list of the invisible admin that happens with a death and helping with that?,
Life Admin in a Relationship
Is one person doing it all? Does that cause resentment? If you embark on a new relationship one way to deepen the connection is to discuss the types of admin in each other’s lives and see what admin type you each are. Not very romantic (unless perhaps you are a super doer 😊).
A new relationship can bring large changes – moving in together, marriage, children, co-mingling families – all of which create admin.
Inventory Your Admin Tasks
If you are feeling frazzled and are not certain why you may not have considered the sheer volume of life admin we have to do each day, month, and year. One way to create more calm is to create an inventory of admin tasks. This will give you an idea and possible explanation of why you never seem to have enough time. A clear picture of all the little tasks that are needed (scheduling an annual dentist, doctor, optometrist appointment) can give you insight into tasks. It might also provide clarity in how to better plan and batch activities.
Some of the questions that might arise include:
- Who does the work (if you have more than one person in your household)
- Is that a good division of labor?
- Is the way the admin is currently being done the best way? Could it be simplified? An example of this would be gift giving at a holiday – could gift cards or money be easier instead of items?
- Can you switch admin tasks with someone else?
- Can someone else help you with it?
- Can you just get rid of the task?
You may think you’re not accomplishing anything because you’re not counting all the invisible things you do.
Are you Swamped with Life Admin?
Here are a few steps to help out:
- Talk and list out all the admin you do
- Find a way of sharing it – electronic calendars, grocery lists
- Negotiate – can you share a task?
- Outsource – can someone else do it?
Super-Doers Optimize
Here are a few ways in which Super-Doers optimize tasks. There may be some ideas you find useful to emulate.
- Pay bills online
- Have shared information folders (electronic or household binder)
- Shared calendars
- Scan/shred regularly
- Sort mail immediately
- Do things on a “to-do” list immediately
- Keep a small stock-pile of gifts (or gift cards) and special occasion greeting cards
- Keep a travel bag ready if you travel regularly
My own preference is not to create elaborate systems for paperwork I don’t need to keep—I record what I need, scan important receipts and shred the paper.
Life Admin Strategies and Tools
Carve out time to do admin. Find others in a “virtual” study hall like session (zoom call) so you can keep each other accountable while doing your life admin.
Look for apps that may help you but be mindful that some will take more time to learn and implement than the time it takes to just do the admin.
Is Life Admin Worth Reading?
I found Life Admin a fascinating book, not simply because it offers strategies for getting things done, but because it made me think differently about all the invisible work involved in running our lives.
The discussion of different admin personality types was particularly useful. It helped me understand why something that seems easy—or even satisfying—to an Admin Super-Doer can feel completely overwhelming to someone else. That understanding can make us a little less judgemental and a little more compassionate, both with other people and with ourselves.
The book also made me look more closely at the admin in my own life. What can be simplified? Shared? Automated or outsourced? And perhaps most importantly: what am I doing simply because I’ve always done it?
If paperwork, appointments, bills, lists and endless little administrative tasks seem to be taking up far too much of your life—or if you live with someone whose approach to admin is completely different from yours—I think Life Admin is well worth a read.
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Books That Changed How I Think About Organization
Organization isn’t just about having a tidy home. Over the years, I’ve discovered that the best books on decluttering and productivity often challenge the way we think about our possessions, our work, and even our daily habits.
The books in this collection have each influenced me in different ways. Some offered practical strategies for reducing clutter and staying organized. Others helped me rethink decision-making, productivity, downsizing, and the connection between our physical surroundings and our state of mind.
Whether you’re trying to simplify your home, manage paperwork, prepare for a move, or create a more intentional life, these are the books I find myself recommending again and again.
Explore the reviews below to discover the ideas, insights, and lessons I took away from each one.
Joy at Work
Productivity and organization for a more intentional work life.
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
A thoughtful approach to downsizing, legacy, and life’s transitions.
The Clutter Connection
Understanding your organizing style through personality types.
Decluttering at the Speed of Life
Practical strategies for reducing clutter and simplifying your home.
