Sometimes, the smallest admin job is the best place to start
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Published: 19 August, 2026 | by Viktoria Cowley, Your Friendly PA
A new client recently showed me a carefully prioritised list of administrative tasks that had been building up.
And when I say carefully prioritised, I mean beautifully organised. Everything was already listed in order, with the most important and financially significant task sitting firmly at number one.
The first job involved working through the records for a number of overseas trips. Each journey needed to be checked, documented and submitted through the appropriate system so that the costs could be reimbursed. Most of the information was there, but there could be a few missing pieces.
Further down the list was a much smaller, one-off task: checking a collection of boarding passes to make sure the relevant air miles had been credited.
It was probably the quickest job on the entire list.
But while we were talking it through, something occurred to me.
If we checked the boarding passes first, we could clear that quick task from the list—and those same boarding passes might also contain some of the missing information needed for the much larger travel-reimbursement project.
Suddenly, one small job wasn’t merely an easy win. It became a useful first step towards solving the biggest one.
That is the value of looking at administration as a connected system rather than a collection of unrelated tasks.
A priority list is only the beginning
A priority list is only the beginning
Knowing what is most important is enormously helpful, but the biggest or most urgent task does not always have to be tackled first.
Sometimes it makes more sense to begin with something that will:
provide information needed elsewhere;
remove a blockage;
create a quick win;
reduce the pile;
or make the next task easier.
Good administrative support is not simply about completing jobs in the order they appear.
It is also about recognising the connections between them, asking the right questions and finding the most efficient route through the work.
You don’t always need to hand everything over
You don’t always need to hand everything over
This client knew what needed to be done. She had already thought carefully about her priorities and organised the work.
What she needed was someone to sit alongside her, understand the bigger picture and help turn those priorities into action.
That distinction matters.
Working with a Virtual Assistant does not mean losing control of your personal or business administration. It can simply mean having another capable pair of eyes on it—someone who can spot patterns, establish systems and help you finally make progress on the things that have been sitting there for far too long.
Start where it makes the most difference
Start where it makes the most difference
The best starting point may be the largest task.
But it could also be the five-minute job hiding at number three.
The important thing is to look at the whole picture before diving in.
If your administration has become a collection of half-finished jobs, missing information and things you keep promising yourself you’ll deal with next week, I can help you work out where to begin.
Sometimes you don’t need to do everything at once.
You just need to find the first task that makes everything else easier.
What’s taking up your time that you’d rather not be doing?
Get in touch to find out how Your Friendly PA could help you bring some order, structure and momentum to it.
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