Summer flies by, and you have to think and act fast in order to make the most of every moment. Unfortunately, time is limited, and planning and organizing your summer can easily get in the way of actually enjoying yourself.
Hiring a personal assistant can help you avoid this dilemma and spend your summer the way you ought to be.
Planning Vacations, Summer Camps, and Other Events
Summer is a time for getting away, exploring, and being active. Of course, most of this requires time-consuming planning.
Whether you’re going on an international vacation or just camping a couple of hours away, your personal assistant can make reservations, purchase tickets, create itineraries and packing lists, and make sure you have everything you need with you. If you need to sign your children up for summer events, such as a summer camp or childcare, your personal assistant can also research your options and organize all the necessary details.
The result is a summer of doing, without having to think too much beforehand.
Time doesn’t stop while you’re away having fun: At home, your flowers still need watered and your dog still needs walked. While you can ask a friend to do this for you, you’ll still have to face coming home to an empty fridge, dusty home, and piles of mail. Your personal assistant can go the extra mile to create a welcoming home for you to return to.
The sun is shining and you’re yearning to feel its warmth; but your chores won’t do themselves, so you’re stuck inside.
As an alternative to this dismal scene, your personal assistant can handle your errands, household management, and chores so that you don’t have to. Imagine coming home from work to a home that’s tidy and organized, and a meal that’s prepped and ready to be cooked. Nothing’s stopping you from soaking up all the sunshine you can get.
If you have kids, you know that summer ends as soon as back-to-school season starts, when you have to start shopping for school supplies and getting organized for the new school year. To make summer stretch just a little bit longer, your personal assistant can handle the necessary preparations for you, such as picking up supplies, scheduling necessary appointments, and even planning and prepping for school lunches.
Your personal assistant gives you an invaluable gift: time, and the freedom to do whatever you want with it. No longer booked with chores, errands, and everything else that fills your calendar, your time finally becomes your own.
But for those of you who are used to going nonstop from morning to night, deciding what to do with this newfound freedom can be a challenge. For you busy bees, we have five ideas to help pass the hours.
1. Pamper Yourself
When was the last time you spoiled yourself? This doesn’t have to mean going all-out at the spa, but could involve getting a pedicure or a massage, or even just soaking in the tub at home with candles, bubbles, and all the works. Another idea is to find a quiet place and grab that book you’ve been wanting to read.
Everyone deserves to indulge themselves every now and then, so don’t hold yourself back!
2. Exercise
While exercising may not be your ideal way of spending your free time, as one of the first things people drop when they get busy, it’s important to include it in your schedule. Plus, exercise just makes you feel good, both physically and mentally. It even helps lower your stress levels, and since your personal assistant will already be reducing your stress, you’ll be feeling less stressed than ever!
When we’re busy, we often overlook our relationships, canceling plans or just not making the time to check in or meet up. Do this enough, and those relationships will inevitably suffer.
With your newly open schedule, make an effort to spend quality time with your loved ones. Set a regular coffee or lunch date with those who live nearby, or a call with anyone who’s farther away.
4. Pursue a Hobby
Remember when you were a kid and were encouraged to develop and practice hobbies? Well, hobbies actually become more important as you get older, as they help you relax and take your mind off of everyday stresses.
Whether you’re returning to a hobby you’ve left off or picking up a new one, be sure to find the time for at least one activity you enjoy.
Sometimes, we get so caught up in doing things that we forget what it’s like to just take a breather. Doing nothing gives you a chance to give your brain a break and be alone with your thoughts, potentially even helping you realize what it is you really want to do with your free time.
Essentially, it’s okay to not have a plan for what to do, or to have a plan to do nothing at all — whatever way you want to look at it.
In honor of Administrative Professionals’ Day, we want to acknowledge all the hard work that administrative professionals, executive assistants, and secretaries do. Your efforts can make the difference between poor- and high-quality work, and between a day where everything goes terribly wrong and one where everything falls into place.
However, administrative professionals’ responsibilities should end with the workday, and sometimes the best thing you can do is recognize when calling in additional help is necessary. Here are three signs that your boss could use a personal assistant at home.
They’re Neglecting Obligations at Home
Sometimes, professional success comes at the cost of one’s home life.
If you notice that your boss seems to be neglecting things at home — whether that includes chores and household management, appointments, or even relationships — it may be a sign that they need extra help. A personal assistant can remove these obligations by taking care of them on a weekly basis.
They Aren’t Taking Proper Care of Themselves
Lack of self-care is a sure sign that someone is overtaxed. If you begin to notice that your boss isn’t getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, relaxing, or otherwise taking care of themselves, now is the time to speak up.
A personal assistant can help your boss free up time for self-care activities by eliminating time-consuming responsibilities at home. They can even help your boss eat healthier by meal planning, shopping, and prepping.
They’re Stressed About Nonwork-Related Issues
When everything at work is going well and your boss still seems stressed, the stressors responsible likely lie at home. No matter how much you do to make life at the office easier, your boss can still be stressed by outside issues, and they may eventually begin to affect their work performance.
If any of these signs sound familiar, consider suggesting that your boss get a personal assistant. Pepper’s Personal Assistants can help with household management, errands, and chores, lending the same order to their home life that you lend to their work life. In the end, everyone in your office will benefit from a less stressed, more relaxed boss!
When people don’t dedicate any time to taking care of themselves, they often overlook exercise and nutrition. While skipping a workout or opting for takeout to save time is sometimes necessary, making this your norm will take its toll on your physical health. If you fail to take care of your body, you won’t ever feel at your best.
However, your self-care routine doesn’t even have to include a proper diet and exercise in order for it to benefit your physical health (although it should). When you relax, your body triggers the relaxation response, which is essentially the opposite of the fight-or-flight response. This state helps you avoid anxiety and burnout, which is important to prevent chronic stress from damaging your health long-term and decreasing your immunity.
Mental Health
Those who don’t dedicate time to their self-care are more likely to experience low self-esteem, resentment, and unhappiness. And the burnout we mentioned above can have quite an impact on mental health as well.
Practicing self-care has been proven to increase productivity and positive thinking and impart feelings of well-being and calm. Plus, taking care of your body helps you to feel confident and good about yourself.
Ways to Practice Self-Care
Self-care looks different for every individual, but the time you set aside for yourself should include at least some of the following ideas:
When trying to find time to devote to your self-care, focus on two things.
First, prioritize your own well-being. If your priorities always lie elsewhere, you’ll never find the time (or energy) for yourself. Prioritizing yourself may mean accepting the fact that you can’t do everything — at least not on your own.
And second, you have to let others help you. Trying to perfectly juggle your work, home, relationships, and self-care is a recipe for disaster.
Hiring a personal assistant is a great way to free up time for yourself without neglecting any of your other responsibilities. Pepper’s Personal Assistants is here to help with your household management, errands, and chores, so you can spend that time and energy on something more deserving: yourself.
Ready to invest more time in yourself? Get started with a personal assistant today!
A new year means new vacations, and vacations start with making the necessary arrangements. Whether you’re fleeing to a warmer city to break up the remaining winter months, thinking ahead to spring break, or just dreaming up some weekend trips, a personal assistant can help reduce the stress of vacation planning.
Booking Flights and Hotels
Looking for flights and hotels, especially if you’re trying to get a good deal or are tied to specific dates, can be extremely time consuming. Let your personal assistant know when and where you’d like to take your vacation, what accomodations you expect from your flight and hotel, and anything else that’s pertinent. They can present you with several options and make all the arrangements after you’ve chosen which you like best.
Creating an Itinerary
If you’re visiting a new place for the first time, you’ll want to make the most of your stay there and see as much as possible; and even if your trip is a stay-at-the-beach-all-day kind of vacation, having some plans made ahead of time is smart. Your personal assistant can find and book any must-do activities; purchase and print tickets to shows, museums, and the like so you can avoid long lines; and make dinner reservations for you and your fellow travelers.
Creating Packing Lists
Your personal assistant will be aware of where you’re going and what you’re doing, making them the perfect person to create a detailed packing list for your trip. You may prefer to decide which specific items to include to fulfill the list, but they’ll know best if any scheduled activities require specific footwear, for example, or if the weather will be fluctuating during your stay. When you’re frantically packing at the last minute, you’ll appreciate not having to worry about forgetting anything important.
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