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If you need a personal assistant for your day to day life due to how much you're working, consider the idea that perhaps you're working too much. CEO or not, n

If you need a personal assistant for your day to day life due to how much you're working, consider the idea that perhaps you're working too much. CEO or not, no one needs to let their work consume their life. It's your job to set an example for the rest of the team. Others might see how much you're working and assume that they need to, too. I've seen it happen a few times. EDIT: Sorry, I failed to mention, my comment is in response to "personal tasks first and foremost." Having someone arrange meetings is a perfect business use case.

throw123123123 5y ago
Says the person that didn't make their own forks
- sillysaurusx 5y ago
  Arranging a dentist appointment and making your own fork is a very different amount of time commitment.
  - maxk42 5y ago
    And yet both can be too much for some people.
    - ottoid 5y ago
      Exactly this!
version_five 5y ago
My interpretation was that the person likes doing their work and wants to outsource distractions. For a fixed amount of work / day, it's better to spend as much as possible where you're most effective, imo. I have a cleaner and order takeout not because I'm theoretically too busy to clean and cook, but because I'd rather outsource so I can do other stuff. Put another way, trade is better for everyone.
- sillysaurusx 5y ago
  But it doesn't matter if you like doing your work. If you're working all the time, to the point where you can't arrange a doctor's appointment, you're working way too much. When you're in a leadership position, it's a matter of time until it impacts the rest of the team. The one personal task that takes a lot of time that I'd consider outsourcing would be to go to the store to pick up my prescriptions. But even that gives me a chance to reflect. It's really quite hard to imagine that it's a significant loss not having a personal assistant. What are some tasks that need to be outsourced? (Another way to phrase it: The rest of their team probably don't have personal assistants. If it's a work necessity, they should consider making a personal assistant a company benefit.)
  - ryan-c 5y ago
    I've had my PA arrange doctor's appointments, it's great. It's not a matter of working too much, it's that I only have so much mental energy to go around. Decisions can be draining. Dealing with people can be draining. These things aren't draining to the same extent for everyone.
    - Arete314159 5y ago
      These days with everybody understaffed, making a doctor's appointment can be very time-consuming, as well! You might on hold / re-routed and the whole call could take 15 or 20 minutes, which is a lot in the middle of the day.
  - dymk 5y ago
    Why is it that doctors appointments are something that you need to set aside time to make, personally? Why can't somebody else do that for OP? I don't personally need an assistant, even though I work at the same company as my CEO (who has a personal assistant as well). Him having one doesn't mean everybody needs one.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - 5y ago
froggertoaster 5y ago
Asinine, ignorant comment. Let people decide what's best for them and stop armchair quarterbacking.
sokoloff 5y ago
They are working too much, so now they’re hiring someone to do some of that work, such that their overall work burden is reduced and more focused on the tasks they prefer to work on.
Kranar 5y ago
>If you need a personal assistant for your day to day life due to how much you're working, consider the idea that perhaps you're working too much. Isn't that exactly the point? That OP did consider that they're working too much and are looking to delegate some of that work to someone else.
- sillysaurusx 5y ago
  You're right, I phrased that poorly. I added an edit to clarify. My mistake. What got to me was the idea that people want a personal assistant to run their lives, rather than their business. That seemed like a red flag, but it sounds like a lot of people disagree.
  - kortilla 5y ago
    Because you consider some things to be part of your “personal life” that many people don’t want to be part of their life at all. I love butter but I don’t want to churn it. So I just buy it from the store. Is that paying the store to run my life?

throw123123123 5y ago

Says the person that didn't make their own forks

sillysaurusx 5y ago
Arranging a dentist appointment and making your own fork is a very different amount of time commitment.
- maxk42 5y ago
  And yet both can be too much for some people.
  - ottoid 5y ago
    Exactly this!

version_five 5y ago

My interpretation was that the person likes doing their work and wants to outsource distractions. For a fixed amount of work / day, it's better to spend as much as possible where you're most effective, imo. I have a cleaner and order takeout not because I'm theoretically too busy to clean and cook, but because I'd rather outsource so I can do other stuff. Put another way, trade is better for everyone.

sillysaurusx 5y ago
But it doesn't matter if you like doing your work. If you're working all the time, to the point where you can't arrange a doctor's appointment, you're working way too much. When you're in a leadership position, it's a matter of time until it impacts the rest of the team. The one personal task that takes a lot of time that I'd consider outsourcing would be to go to the store to pick up my prescriptions. But even that gives me a chance to reflect. It's really quite hard to imagine that it's a significant loss not having a personal assistant. What are some tasks that need to be outsourced? (Another way to phrase it: The rest of their team probably don't have personal assistants. If it's a work necessity, they should consider making a personal assistant a company benefit.)
- ryan-c 5y ago
  I've had my PA arrange doctor's appointments, it's great. It's not a matter of working too much, it's that I only have so much mental energy to go around. Decisions can be draining. Dealing with people can be draining. These things aren't draining to the same extent for everyone.
  - Arete314159 5y ago
    These days with everybody understaffed, making a doctor's appointment can be very time-consuming, as well! You might on hold / re-routed and the whole call could take 15 or 20 minutes, which is a lot in the middle of the day.
- dymk 5y ago
  Why is it that doctors appointments are something that you need to set aside time to make, personally? Why can't somebody else do that for OP? I don't personally need an assistant, even though I work at the same company as my CEO (who has a personal assistant as well). Him having one doesn't mean everybody needs one.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- 5y ago

froggertoaster 5y ago

Asinine, ignorant comment. Let people decide what's best for them and stop armchair quarterbacking.

sokoloff 5y ago

They are working too much, so now they’re hiring someone to do some of that work, such that their overall work burden is reduced and more focused on the tasks they prefer to work on.

Kranar 5y ago

>If you need a personal assistant for your day to day life due to how much you're working, consider the idea that perhaps you're working too much. Isn't that exactly the point? That OP did consider that they're working too much and are looking to delegate some of that work to someone else.

sillysaurusx 5y ago
You're right, I phrased that poorly. I added an edit to clarify. My mistake. What got to me was the idea that people want a personal assistant to run their lives, rather than their business. That seemed like a red flag, but it sounds like a lot of people disagree.
- kortilla 5y ago
  Because you consider some things to be part of your “personal life” that many people don’t want to be part of their life at all. I love butter but I don’t want to churn it. So I just buy it from the store. Is that paying the store to run my life?