While executives and CEOs might be the face of an organization, assistants and administrative professionals are the backbone. They keep things operating smoothly by completing numerous behind-the-scenes tasks, from ordering executive catering and formatting board decks to organizing events. They’re the unsung heroes, if you will. 

Because being an assistant is such a dynamic role, it can be easy to get lost in that identity and burn out quickly. That’s why it’s important to enter the profession well-prepared, knowing how to deal with some of the daily stressors. 

Here at ezCater, we sat down with Jeremy Burrows, executive assistant to the CEO of Capacity and the founder/host of The Leader Assistant Podcast. He provided incredible insights from his more than 17 years of experience as an assistant, starting with a few things he wished he had known before entering the role. Let’s take a look.

1. The importance of downtime

Working as an administrative professional means you’re taking on a critical leadership role in the company that requires much attention and care. With numerous responsibilities and a neverending to-do list, it can be easy to put aside personal interests and goals for the betterment of the company. And let’s be honest: assistants are extremely hard workers. That’s not a bad thing by any means, but it can easily lead to burnout if you don’t create a work-life balance.

“I wish I would’ve known how important it is to log off and spend time on a hobby,” said Burrows. “You really need to be passionate about your personal hobbies just as much as your day job.”

So take some time for yourself. Turn off those notifications for a few hours a week so you can really focus on something rewarding for you, not just those around you. Ultimately, spending time on your own hobbies helps you avoid burnout, which then makes you more productive at work.

2. Where to place your worth

Another significant culprit of burnout is misplaced worth. By constantly focusing on making life easier for those around them, assistants might adopt that professional role as their identity. Things that happen in the workplace then affect them on a personal level, impacting their self-worth.

“I think the thing that I wish I would’ve really grasped early on in my assistant career is that detaching my worth as a human being from my work as an assistant is the only way to lead well and resist burnout. Because if I attach my worth as a human being to my work as an assistant, then I care about all the wrong things,” said Burrows.

There’s also a point where trying to please your boss becomes unhealthy. If you set impossibly high standards to keep everyone around you happy, you set yourself up for failure. That, in turn, can affect your sense of self-worth and lead to burnout.

There should always be a separation between your professional role and identity. That way, when something goes wrong at the office — and, inevitably, it will — you don’t take that on as a personal attack. Staying detached can increase your confidence and make you a better assistant.

3. The surprising effects of food

Burnout doesn’t just happen with a work-life imbalance. Skipping meals, forgetting them altogether, or grabbing an unhealthy snack can quickly lead to early-afternoon crashes and exhaustion, affecting your overall mood and performance.

But food isn’t just crucial for assistants; it can completely change the entire office atmosphere. As administrative professionals, it’s important to realize the company-wide effect that food can have and then plan accordingly.

“Food is definitely a mood changer,” said Burrows. “I remember when we first launched our startup, the whole room would perk up and get excited if someone brought donuts in. Or nowadays, we might announce that there’s a bunch of leftover food after a board meeting, and people get really excited to dig into some free food.”

If a few donuts and leftovers can change the entire office mood, just imagine what well-organized executive catering can do.

Tips for effective executive catering

As an assistant, you already have a lot on your plate. Planning menus and ordering executive meals might just be the last thing you want to do. 

However, ordering meals doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right approach, it can be a breeze. Here are a few tips Burrows has learned over the years to simplify executive catering:

• Make it easy to eat while on the go
  People are busy, and many just want to grab a meal and go. Or if you’re organizing an event, attendees will likely eat while standing around talking. Potentially messy foods like pasta might prove too difficult to eat. Options like sushi or sandwiches are usually more manageable.
  
• Avoid spicy food and strong smells
  Spicy food is a hit or miss. When ordering for the office or large events, you want a crowd pleaser — not something that divides the group. Plus, nobody wants to start sweating or tearing up due to the spice while trying to close a deal. The same goes for foods with strong smells. Bad breath and networking don’t mix, so avoid things like garlic. 
  
• Always remember water
  Many go-to beverage options include sodas, sparkling water, and lemonade — but not water. It might often be overlooked, but water is a must at meetings, events, and executive meals. 
  
• Keep it simple
  Extravagant meals might be eye-catching, but don’t underestimate the power of a simply delicious meal. Ordering some classic crowd-pleasers — like a traditional chocolate chip cookie — can often be much more effective than a dish that people have never tried.
  
• Know your team’s dietary restrictions
  When ordering executive meals for your team, you shouldn’t have to ask them every time about any dietary restrictions. It’s just like knowing your executive’s coffee order — it shows care and attentiveness to automatically offer meal accommodations. One way to do this is to organize a personal profile for each team member with their dietary restrictions. 
  

Even with all these tips, it can still be time-consuming to call different restaurants, check availability, organize menus, and manage the delivery. That’s why having a tool like ezCater is just as essential as digital automation tools like Zapier or Power Automate.

Instead of managing executive catering all on your own, you can essentially outsource it to ezCater and let the experts take care of finding the perfect vendor — even one that can include all dietary accommodations. This saves you time, allowing you to focus on more critical tasks.

“If you’re like me and you don’t enjoy having to gather food options and make decisions on behalf of others, you can trust the ezCater team,” said Burrows. “They figure out the dietary restrictions, get enough food for everyone so that nobody goes hungry, and then provide some good options.”

Make executive meals easy with ezCater

Being an assistant means constantly juggling a dozen tasks. So why not lighten your workload a bit by relying on a platform like ezCater? Whether you need to order regular office lunches or cater large networking events, ezCater can help you streamline that process. With a network of over 100,000 vendors, we can help you find just what you need for any group size and budget.

And don’t just take our word for it. Burrows happily uses ezCater for his catering needs.

“I love the way that ezCater lets me input the date and time of my meeting, the location, the amount of people I’m feeding, any dietary restrictions, and my budget. And then it provides a few different local restaurants, with a few menu options. It’s so much better than me having to come up with different restaurant and menu options from scratch.”