“Six years ago, after watching my circle of friends surrender one too many evenings to insurance wrangling and doctor portals and DMV confusion, I emailed them a proposal: Come over next Tuesday. Grab a six pack. And bring your bills, your credit-card statements, your school forms, the streaming services you need to unsubscribe from, the airline miles you need to manage, the expenses app you need to figure out.
I’d be throwing the lamest party ever.
At the heart of this party was a truth that has gone under-acknowledged in recent years: We’re all sinking. We’re sinking into a quicksand of tiny, dumb administrative tasks. It is the most tedious quicksand imaginable.
I called my nerdy little party Admin Night. The premise: deal with the stuff we’ve been putting off, help each other when possible (‘anyone have luck connecting with Comcast?’) and make a fun evening of something onerous.
Right away we marveled at how productive we were. Having friends hammer away beside you, faces lighted by the same bureaucratic glow, somehow makes dreaded tasks manageable. Little projects postponed for years—closing a checking account, updating a will—become approachable when you’ve got a squad.”
Here, Chris Colin makes his case for throwing your own Admin Night party.
