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Here are four specific questions on this topic I was asked along with four specific answers to help you make your own determination: 

1. How did you find your current assistant?

My first one after I left the University was the person I brought away from the university with me…(note:  the VERY first assistant I ever had was when I was an assistant professor and owed more on student loans than my first year's salary, but knew I didn't want to forego tenure just so I could save a few dollars.  I had a series of assistants while I was at the University, most of whom I paid for out of my own pocket…and I don't regret one dollar that I spent). 

The second one was a good friend of mine who is a teacher and wanted to earn extra money…and I actually tried to get her to quit her job at the District she was so good, but alas, she didn't.

The third one was a referral from a neighbor. When I could see that I needed someone to replace Sue (the teacher who had just gotten too overloaded), I started telling everyone.  My next door neighbor sent Lisa (who is an optometrist who wanted to stay home with her kids) to me.  She also lives in our neighborhood but I'd never met her.  Word of mouth/referral made it happen.

My fourth assistant (who is my current assistant) is another neighbor (connected through Lisa), who is an accountant and a stay-at-home mom and does my bookkeeping (and SO MUCH more).  At one time I hired Heather Nelson in Seattle (Champion Assistants) who did a bunch of projects (I found her through a forum for entrepreneurs), and Kelley who has done a great deal of my web design and maintenance (and I got her through a referral from a friend/colleague at the university).  You can see the myriad ways that assistants can come into your life. 

2.   How did you evaluate these assistants to determine that you could trust them and they would be a good choice?

I give people baby projects to take on and watch them like a hawk to make sure things are done well and that the assistants are trustworthy.  Part of why I like referrals is because it does assist with the trust aspect.  Then, gradually, I give the assistant larger and larger projects and keep checking to make sure that we have the same work ethic, customer service, and excellence expectations. I have made the mistake of giving too much, too fast and it overwhelmed the person (given my expectations), so for a number of reasons, I highly recommend building up slowly.

3. What are the first three steps for me to take?

1. Make a list of EVERY SINGLE THING you know perfectly well that someone else could be doing rather than you. Both personal and professional.  The life of a professor is a 24/7/365 job…and you need help in all areas of your life so you can excel at your professional endeavors as well as maintaining the personal relationships and projects. 

2. Start telling people that you are looking for an assistant.  Just get the word out and the Universe will help answer your request.  You never know where the referral will come from. 

3. During the summer, I'd even hire teenagers in your neighborhood to do some errands or other kinds of work like that. This helps you get in the habit of knowing that someone else can pick up your cleaning, go to Trader Joe's for you, run to the post office, etc.  I keep several teens well employed throughout the year.

4.  How much will it cost?

Cost…I pay a 7-year old $3/hour to put stamps on envelopes. I pay $6 – 10/hour to teens to do a variety of different kinds of work. I pay most assistants $20 – 50/hour for higher level tasks.  I know that is a huge range, but it depends on a number of factors.

Here's what you need to consider:  What is it worth to get your work done, keep your life in order, and live to tell about it?  A lot.  Hiring someone to help you (or LOTS of "someones" to help you) is a prudent investment. 

And as a college or university faculty member, you have many opportunities for success and failure. If you would like additional tips, tools, and techniques that you can use to support your successes, then you will want to access the The Compendium of Productivity Tips for Professors a step by step guide that will help you have a successful year and a compelling career as an academic.

Procrastination is related to SO many other productivity obstacles that it's an important one to address.

For example, procrastination is related to

Not knowing where to start

As one person wrote to me: "Paralysis…I hit a wall of tasks or projects and can't seem to get started. Paralysis turns into procrastination, and productivity flees which increases the paralysis." She also sent me a nice diagram she had created…and indicated that creating it was just one more way to procrastinate! I laughed of course, because I do the same kind of thing!!

So, here's what I want you to do (and no, don't put it off! Do it now!)

Take 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 2 hours – however long it takes, and generate a list of at least 100 items you are procrastinating. Believe me, it won't take long!!

Your answers can range from the tiniest, silliest little things up through HUGE and horrendous items that you are procrastinating. Here are a few possibilities, just to show you the range:

And the list goes on, right….

Please, take the time now to generate at least 100 items that you are procrastinating. You can just sit and think about what all you're putting off, you may walk around your house or office to see what else jumps up to remind you of what you're not doing, you can flip through your calendar or old to-do lists – whatever works for you to prompt those procrastinated items.

 Now, what learning took place for you just by generating this list? Here are some possibilities:

And here's one that I hope for you (and that happens each time I do this): a vow to have a shorter list and a determination to get busy about making that happen!

And to help you continue to polish off procrastination, consider the Get a Plan! Guide® to Thwarting the Thieves of Your Time, Energy, & Attention. Banish the burgalrs of you time, energy, and attention with this practical and resourceful guide.

Can we mindfully appropriate a certain amount of energy to this activity, person, or endeavor and a certain amount of energy to that task, project, or relationship?

If your answer is no, then it's possible that your energy expenditure is explosive and/or uncontrollable.

Is that working well for you? I doubt it.

You do have control over your energy if you are paying attention. You can choose to expend your energy little-by-little vs. having releasing it in a big explosion. And, as you continue getting older and I hope, wiser, you can pay attention to the fact that, for example, if you are a speaker, "Boy, I've got three straight days of very busy activities. If I explode out all my energy on the first day, I may not have anything left for day two and day three."

In essence, you have a finite amount of energy available on any given day, particularly if you are an introvert (but that's another story for another day). If you go into your reserves on day one of a trip, or on Monday of a busy week, you may end up going into your reserves for the next day. So then on Day 2, you're already starting below zero, if you will.

From my own experience, I have learned not attending to the management and conservation of energy was one of the ways I *gave myself* migraine headaches. You may have a similar experience with some physical manifestation of exerting too much energy.

I started paying attention and charting this phenomenon when I was still a professor. I found that if my students – and it didn't matter if it was my undergrads, grads, or if it was the professors I was teaching – weren't bringing a lot of positive energy to the room, then I would try to fill the whole room with my positive energy. I would dig into reserves that weren't there. I'd go into a type of adrenaline overload and try to get excited enough for everybody in the room who wasn't excited. When I did so, I paid for it. So, I've continued to track and monitor this.

At this point, I'm happy to say, there are very few groups with whom I work where this ends up being a factor. But there are a few. I just start to watch it. And I think, "Meggin, is this worth the migraine?" and usually the answer is "No, it's not." I need to remind myself, "Hey, these are adults, they need to bring some energy." Sometimes I just need to ask people, "Hey we need some more energy in this room. What do we need to do? What are you thinking? What's happening?" Because, otherwise, I'd have this big explosion of energy, and then I would pay physically and in other ways, too.

Check out what is happening with you. Determine your effectiveness when your energy has become depleted. Can you wisely monitor, conserve, control, and thus, extend your energy? I think you can and if you want additional 

And if you want smart ways that you can maximize your positive energy and minimize your negative energy, the you will want to access the teleseminar Quantifying Your Value: Energy Charting for Your Professional and Personal Life

Sometimes you are fortunate enough to have people who work for you and you are the only one who is delegating to them. More often, however, you are one of many who delegates to these people. When this is the case, different strategies must be employed for maximum productivity.

And if you want over 550 practical, immediately-implementable tips to read, print, and/or post as reminders, then you will want, Top Ten Productivity Tips – The Collection! available for immediate download!

Writers are people who love and use words…and sometimes we have to use that knowledge of language to support what we do as writers.  Remember, we're all in this together, right?

If you liked these writing tips you may be interested in the Get a Plan! Guide® to Postponing Writing Procrastination part of the Get a Plan! Guides® series designed so that so that you can accomplish your goals more smoothly, i.e., peacefully, productively, and predictably.

Here's what I do want you to think about though…

…there is no bailout for the business of life.

As an adult, you can't count on someone else to bail you out. It just doesn't happen. When we make royal messes of portions of our lives (and we all do at one or more junctures) then we have to own up to it, clean up the parts that we can, learn from the errors we made and then move on.

What if we liken this to bankruptcy? Like all metaphors, we aren't going to take this one further than we need to, but just hear me out on this.

Just as many individuals have chosen bankruptcy in one of its several forms (all of which have consequences), are there any areas in your life where you need to declare bankruptcy?

You might need what's called "straight bankruptcy," where you discharge everything and in essence, start all over. Or you might need what's deemed as "rehabilitative bankruptcy," where you develop a plan for repaying your debts. As I said, neither do I want to get into the particulars of bankruptcy nor to have you think about the money because that is not my point.

The point is that when evaluating some areas in your life, you may need to consider that you're on the verge of bankruptcy – and either figure out how to pull back from the edge by making some changes – or to go ahead, recognize that nothing more can be done, seek bankruptcy – and then begin to move forward again.

Thinking of what the best intents are for bankruptcy, it's for people who need to make a clean and fresh start and to keep from being dragged down to a point where they give up. We don't want people to give up. We want people to keep moving forward, to keep striving, to keep contributing, to keep growing, learning, and making a difference.

If you have gotten to a place at home, at work, with your kitchen, with your garage, with your closet, with one or more relationships – or any other aspect of your life where you have become despondent to the point of giving up…would it work for you to either declare "straight bankruptcy" or "rehabilitative bankruptcy" as your proceed in taking care of the business of life?

I'll use a fairly simple and reasonably concrete example and then one that is somewhat more abstract. You may extrapolate from these and apply the ideas to your own life at whatever level of abstraction you need to.

Example #1: Let's just say that your email inbox is so over-stuffed that you despair each time you open it up. You keep thinking that you'll make progress but you never do. You have items in there from years ago as well as items from yesterday. There are emails with attachments, emails from friends, emails that are read, and ones that are unread. You pretty much have 'failed' in the empty-your-email-inbox category and you stress over it to the point that it's having an impact on other areas of your productivity and your life.

One option is that you could declare straight bankruptcy on your email and just delete the entire inbox (and all the folders you currently have) and just start over. Fresh. Start. New. Clean. Empty. Inbox. Smiling face. Good spirits.

Example #2, which is a bit less tangible – a friendship that isn't anymore… You've tried to revive the relationship, endeavored to amend the relationship, attempted to resuscitate the relationship, all to no avail. Apparently, whatever it is that happened to the friendship isn't getting fixed and isn't getting better…and you've expended huge amounts of time and energy on it, partly because you think you must be a failure that you haven't been able to make it work. Well, the friendship failed for some reason – and part of it or all of it – may be your 'fault.'

One choice you could make is to declare that relationship bankrupt and move on. Sad face…but then relaxed face…it's over. Good spirits.

Think about these two examples and think about any areas in the business of your life where you might need to declare bankruptcy – it is really a fascinating concept when you think about it metaphorically…

And for weekly doses of positivity to support you in the business of life, you're invited to join the Staying Positive Society where you can access tools for yourself or your team. We are a positive group and would love to have you join us.

Do you have any tricks that help you stop procrastinating? Tell us what works for you.

Janet Schiesl, CPO^© is the owner of Basic Organization, a professional organizing firm in the Washington DC area. The Basic Team provides services to busy families, business owners, downsizing seniors and the chronically disorganized. We can teach you the skills to get organized and live a more simplified life, by providing you with ideas, information, structure and solutions to help you regain control of your space.

Janet is a co-author of the book Get Organized Today. A collaboration of professionals, that provides inspiration for getting organized. The book offers practical ideas that you can use immediately to live a better, more effective life. Find us and more information at www.BasicOrganization.com.

And for more strategies to curb your procrastination you will want to the Get a Plan! Guide® for Dealing with and Deflecting Distractions. you will have ways to take stock of your distractions and will learn 6 means to eliminate – or at the very least, minimize – those distractions. I promise that you will have a plan that you can implement starting today.

'Life is a bank and time is the medium of exchange.'

This makes a great deal of sense to me because time is really the only thing that I have that is irreplaceable. Here's how this metaphor works, and you might even relate this to a metaphorical use of 'bankruptcy'…

Let's say there is a project in which you have gotten involved – and you have a real sense that the project is going nowhere fast – but you keep thinking, "Well, I've already put all this time into it… I better keep going." And as the saying goes, you are throwing good money after bad. However, it is really even worse than throwing good money after bad. You are throwing precious current and future time after already discarded, wasted, or spent time. You can get more money but you can't get more time.

So what is the currency of your life?

Take a look at areas of your personal and professional life where you are investing untold amounts of time, energy, and attention (and maybe money, too) and are getting NO return. In fact, if you really think about it, you are going in the hole.

Those are the places to cut your losses. Get out. Now.

Declaring that 'hmm…this didn't work out,' or 'yikes, I think I made a mistake by agreeing to this marriage/ job/ assignment/ class/ whatever' is nothing to be ashamed about. You made a mistake, an error, things changed, who knows what…

According to Robert Louis Stevenson, "The business of life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits." Just as any successful business owner knows, there are parts of a 'business' that turn out to be profitable and parts that turn out to be unprofitable. So, too, do we need to acknowledge and then minimize those parts of our life that aren't "profitable" so that we can optimize those parts that are "profitable." Your life's business deserves the same wisdom as a traditional business does.

And if you are well aware that you – or those around you – are freaked-out to one degree or another and you can see that it is taking a toll, then you're invited to join the Staying Positive Society where you can access tools for yourself or your team.  We are a positive group and would love to have you join us.

My latest problem has been the following dilemma between doing something right away and postponing it. Is one possible limiting strategy that when you break down tasks to the smallest action that you instead do the task rather than writing it down, especially if the time it takes to type it in would be more or equal to actually doing it? But then isn't the point that you should be in the flow of assigning tasks to times in the week instead of following that thread of one's task list?

Meggin's answer:

Yes.  Many people use the 2-minute rule.  If you can do it in 2 minutes or less, do it.  That works for me part of the time and other times I have to adjust it.  If I have a little more flexibility, I might do whatever is coming up even if it takes 3 or 30 minutes.  Just to get it done and move it out of the way (if it’s worth doing, that is).  Other times, you don’t have the brain space to do the task, only to write it down.  So, just monitor your attention and energy (and time) and adapt as needed. 

There is not an absolute.  I think maybe there are people who have the repetitive kind of job/work that they can actually know that Mondays they do this and Tuesday afternoons they do this (and it’s the same every week) and their energy is pretty much the same every week. 

For faculty (and most other professions), the projects shift, the times shift and the energy shifts. 

One point to keep in mind is that when you get into a certain type of task or project, staying in the flow of that is quite efficient.  That’s why responding to emails is good to do in a batch.  Making phone calls is good to do in a batch.  Writing letters of recommendation is good to do in a batch.  And, it’s nice when you can stay in a certain area if you can. 

For example, if I’m working on Just Whelmed Wee Workshops, although I *can* jump in and out of them and do bits and pieces (it’s happened many times), it is really nice if I’m having a whole ‘just whelmed’ period of thinking and writing the wee workshops, creating mindmaps for upcoming ones, answering questions related to the topic, etc.  I sort of have my “just whelmed” hat on. 

On the personal side, when we are preparing financial stuff, it’s nice to have that hat on – e.g., working on your taxes, getting your account balanced, checking your online banking stuff – all in the same hour or so vs. doing so in fits and starts.

For more productivity tools and strategies consider The Compendium of Productivity Tips a step-by-step guide to a successful semester and a compelling career as an academic.