The phrase “self-care” conjures up many images: meditation, exercise, healthy eating, elaborate beauty routines and therapy. Less likely to spring to mind is the idea of taking your never-ending list of life admin – bills to pay, emails to send, gifts to buy, appointments to make – and tackling them at a social event under the guise of personal betterment. Introducing, admin night.
“When I started doing it, we didn’t have a name for it other than calling it ‘Tuesday’,” says content creator and marketer Benjamin Chipman, 24, whose recent TikTok video about his Tuesday night admin sessions with his friend Nikita Suri went viral. “We didn’t know it was a thing, we just knew we needed to carve out time in our calendar to do it.”
Type “admin night” into a host of social media platforms, from Reddit to Instagram and LinkedIn, and they will yield plenty of results and recommendations. Even US radio and television host Ryan Seacrest is a convert, having recently discussed the trend on his radio show.
“When I would think about all the things I wanted to accomplish or learn, or the conversations I’d been putting off, that’s when admin night slotted into a self-care perspective,” says Chipman. “It’s not a face mask and movie night, but rather the idea of discipline and self-love as hard work. Productivity and making yourself better – however that looks to you – can be exciting and fulfilling.”
Why life admin can be overwhelming
Everything that falls outside the realm of work responsibilities can be considered life admin, from picking up the dry cleaning and doing a grocery run to organising a child’s birthday party. The list is endless, thankless and unpaid.
“Life admin is everything that keeps our lives functioning behind the scenes,” says Annabel Veysey, founder and managing director of strategic support service LifeSort. “It’s not our paid work and it’s not rest. It’s essential work, but because it’s invisible and unpaid, it’s rarely recognised as such.”
The size and dynamics of a household affect the type and frequency of life admin, while personality traits can also play a role in how individuals manage it.
“For people who are more big-picture thinkers or naturally drawn to creativity and abstraction, these tasks can feel especially draining,” says Roh Hafez, life coach at The Hundred Wellness Centre in Dubai. “They may experience them not just as chores, but as pressure – something that consumes time and energy without offering immediate reward.”
Perceived failure to manage the little daily tasks that are stacking up can have an adverse effect on mental health. “When life admin piles up, feelings of being overwhelmed can set in,” says Hafez. “Internal narratives, like ‘I can’t get my life together’, may emerge creating a cycle where overwhelm leads to avoidance, which then creates even more overwhelm.”
How admin night can help you get organised
“For me, it started because I was writing a screenplay and I kept putting off the time when I would sit and write and edit, and my friend was working on a project too, so that’s how it started with us saying we’re going to commit to focus on this once a week,” says Chipman. “Typically, we head out, order a drink or food and sit down and chat for about 15 minutes or so, and then it’s like: ‘What are we working on tonight?’ We would talk about our projects and then I’d say: ‘Oh, I have to book these flights’, or 'I have two birthdays coming up this weekend and doctor's appointments I need to arrange'.”
While the term “accountability partner” has been around for some time, Gen Z has come up with their own version: “body doubling”, to describe accomplishing tasks alongside someone who can be both cheerleader and critic.
“I love the idea of admin nights, because they normalise something some people struggle with in silence,” says Veysey. “There’s a lot of quiet shame attached to admin, such as the feeling that everyone else has it together and you’re the only one behind. Turning it into a shared activity reduces that shame and makes it easier to start.”
A chance to accomplish while connecting
For those feeling isolated by technology or work, who are looking to connect with others, a weekly admin night appointment is a novel way to socialise.
“Pairing necessary but boring tasks with connection and enjoyment is a powerful reframe,” says Hafez. “Doing admin in a group can transform the emotional experience from dread and isolation to shared focus and even lightness. Most importantly, it reinforces the feeling of ‘I’m not alone in this’.”
Chipman adds: “It definitely touches on connectivity. There is a desire to connect with new people and have real-life experiences, but ultimately, I don’t think admin night is the moment to commit to other people, but rather the moment to commit to yourself.”
For Chipman, two is the ideal number for admin night, with anything bigger likely to tip the dynamic or detract from the focal point of getting together.
“It’s easier to control external factors when it’s just the two of you,” he says. “I’ve seen discussions online about hosting large admin nights, but I don’t know if that is effective.
“Admin night has made me 100 per cent more productive because I know it’s the time when I’m going to get something done,” he adds. “It’s easy to say ‘I’ll get to it eventually’, but now I have that 'eventual' time blocked out.”
