How the 'broken window theory' will help you tackle your boring life admin once and for all.

Even with Marie Kondo in my life, getting on top of life admin can be really damn hard.

What is life admin, you ask?

Well, it’s pretty much everything I have to do that I just really don’t want to do.

Think: cleaning out my snack drawer at work, dealing with approximately 1500 unread emails, finding lost scripts for medication, cleaning under my bed and renewing my bank card.

Yep, none of that is fun.

Not one bit.

Luckily for me, it turns out I’m not the only one. If the success of Anne Helen Peterson’s viral article ‘How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation’ is anything to go by, it seems countless millennials are struggling daily to get menial tasks done.

LISTEN: You’re probably suffering for errand paralysis. Post continues below…

But Greatist’s Adam Gilbert has a solution – and it all comes down to a decades-long theory.

If you’ve ever lived in or visited New York City, you may have heard of the ‘broken window theory’.

The theory, which former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani coined, related to communities and areas with lots of broken windows and squalor.

Essentially, the theory suggested that if people lived among areas with broken windows and graffiti, not only would crime rates go up, but people would also be less likely to treat their neighbourhood with respect.

Now, Gilbert has applied that theory to those annoying, menial tasks we all hate doing.

It’s simple, really.

Still need help getting your life organised? Check out Tidying Up With Marie Kondo on Netflix. Post continues below…

Take for example your bedroom. If you’re the type of person that has a “chairdrobe” or even a “floordrobe”, AKA all your clothes tend to sit on “the chair” or on the floor, you’re more likely to just keep adding to the piles of clothes strewn across the room rather than simply hanging them up.

Just like the broken window theory, if your bedroom is clean and organised, you’re less likely to throw clothes on the floor and make a mess. And if your email inbox is regularly cleared, you’re more likely to keep regularly clearing it rather than letting them pile up.

Pretty genius, right?

As Gilbert explained, looking at a long life admin to do list can be pretty damn daunting. Trust me, I know from experience.

But spending just 10 minutes on life admin each day, rather than letting your to do list snowball out of control, can make a whole world of difference.

Now go forth and tackle those tasks, friends.

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