Time management is something I find I do well often enough, but it’s always something I feel is worth improving. I say this because I find myself at times being overwhelmed with activities, though after taking a step back and breathing, I’m able to facilitate things back into a manageable work flow.
However, I find lately that it might be worthwhile to look into acquiring a personal assistant, which oddly enough, is something I don’t yet have a plan on how to go about. I’ve hired writers, artists, designers and IT contractors for various projects over the years and each time I knew the requirements of the project that was needed, how much time it would take and what I was willing to pay to have this accomplished. But with a personal assistant, I’m at a loss due to consistency with requirements.
With a writer or artist, you have something you need written or drawn and you have a deadline and it gets done. With a personal assistant it’s to help me with the not necessarily day-to-day tasks that come up that I require someone to organize and handle, such as scheduling my appointments, responding to inquiries and, when needed, running pickups and deliveries. All things with a fluctuating ebb and flow, while one week may require 20 hours, another week may only require 6 hours.
The other variable I run into with a personal assistant is that I would need them to have a broad skill set, or at least familiarity with the various projects I have on my plate. So they need to be capable of understanding both the creative mind of writers and designers, as well as the technical speak and capabilities of web operations and mobile applications. This requirement here is something that could result with a significant chunk of my time being dedicated to training, and then I am not saving time.
So my thoughts on this are jumbled clearly, and if anyone who has been in a similar situation or hired a personal assistant before could share their opinions with me, that’d be greatly appreciated. Just fire away in the comments below.