Your Imaginary VA/PA

My brother from India visited me this week-end.

Well, he's not actually from India, but he's been there at least a dozen times; that makes him my local India expert. He has a three-sentence title on his business card to explain that he is Chief Technology Guru at his company, which just goes to prove you never know what little brothers are capable of accomplishing. Quite naturally, I wanted the scoop from him on subcontracting to an international virtual assistant.

Tim Ferris talks about getting VAs to do your work in his book, The Four-Hour Workweek, and The Onion has a hilarious video clip on the topic on youtube.

For a fun and thought-expanding way to get your week started, I came up with this exercise. It will help you see how you can free up some time for fun stuff, my personal favorite being doing nothing, and may even inspire you to hire a local PA for 3 hours a week. That's how Christine Kane started with her PA - three hours a week. There are people who would love to earn a bit of extra spending money.

Keep in mind how much you're making per hour yourself, and how much you want to earn. A $50,000 annual salary is roughly equivalent to working $25/hour for 40 hours a week. However, if you're earning $200,000 and working 80 hours a week, you're making $50/hour.

This is to get you thinking outside your concept of what is normal. As my son puts it, "Mom, why would anyone want to be normal?"

Things your VA/PA can do for you:

- Communicate your event to the press.

- Fill your car with gas and get it washed.

- Make trip reservations.

- Drycleaners, grocery shopping.

- Merchandise returns.

- Walk the dog, change the kitty litter.

- Chop vegetables.

- Grade certain assignments.

- Look for stuff on Craig's list.

- Post office.

- Call your mom to say you're not going there for Christmas this year. (Yes, Mom, I will be there, this is just an example!)

- Return and fetch library books.

- Take pet to the vet.

- Look for an apartment to rent for your next vacation.

- Set, move, and cancel doctors' appointments.

- Gift shopping, gift wrap.

Wealthy people have been using personal assistants for years, now it's accessible to almost anyone. How much is your life worth?

Getting More Personal Stuff Done

You know how work stuff tends to take over your life? Then you find you barely have time for fun, for goofing off, and taking it easy.

How many times does your boss ask you if you're getting enough personal/family time?

That's right; organizing yourself so that you have time for everything is your job, and no one else is going to do it for you. Your boss thinks you really like taking work home on the week-ends.

The answer?

Schedule the fun, the nurturing, and the spontaneous. Yep, if you're going to have spontaneous delight, you need to decide when, where, and how.

I promise it will work.

Some ideas:

- One stay-at-home-in-your-pj's day every month, or every two months. These days are great for recharging your batteries. Lounge, read, and eat chips.

- Combine this with one beauty day - get hair, nails, and whatever done, every 6 to 8 weeks.

- One set time each week to do all errands. The cruddy stuff that must be done, what one day your personal assistant will take care of.

- Batch medical appointments. Yours one day, the kids' on another.

- Write out some menu ideas each week. You don't have to follow your plan, but having something written down can save you from having to think when you're super busy and/or tired.

The point is, don't wait until you're on the brink, or past the brink of exhaustion to get proactive about your personal life. No one else is going to do that for you.