Well I don’t know about you but 2017 seems to have disappeared in the blink of an eye! I cannot believe that it is nearly Christmas and I have once again got to send my poor hubby up into the loft to retrieve the various boxes of decorations to adorn the house for the festive period.
There is a lot of talk about preparing goals for the New Year and whilst this is a very valid point and something I am planning to write about next time, I happen to think that there is a lot of work one can do in the run up to the New Year.
A lot of us will have a quieter time work wise in December especially as we get nearer to Christmas and it is a good time to have a bit of a clear out.
So here are some ideas to get you ready for that goal setting in the run up to January.
- Unsubscribe! We all do it, we subscribe to this and that and before we know it our inboxes are cluttered up with items that we never read. And then we make the excuse not to clear through them for one reason or another, you don’t have the time, or you might read them one day! Well the likelihood is that if you don’t read them almost straight away you probably won’t, so spend some time when it is quieter unsubscribing from all emails that you never read. Your inbox will never have looked so tidy!
- Have a cull of your Facebook groups. Unless you are in Facebook groups regularly what is the point of being a member of them. Facebook is a great way to interact, build relationships, make new connections and to promote your business, but we need to make the most of them. So, if you are not regularly posting in some of your groups perhaps remove yourself from them. Your newsfeed will be clearer, and you can get to concentrate on the ones that you enjoy and really want to be a part of.
- Organise those electronic folders. Unless you are superbly organised always, everyone’s electronic folders can sometimes become a bit confused or at the very least there are duplicated documents and items that you no longer need. Take some time to look through these and get them in order before January. It will benefit you in the long run ready for the year ahead.
- Review your website and social media platform content. It should be something that we all do regularly but invariably this can be left till last. It is worth reviewing, updating and refreshing the content of your sites to give it a bit of a new feel for people who are visiting in the New Year.
- Make sure all your expenses are sorted. I am pretty good at this and do them every month, but I know plenty of people that don’t. Why? Because it is boring. This is true, but it is also a vital part of running your business. So, make some time to sit down and clear through your receipts and note all your expenses ready for the tax man! You will have to do it eventually, so you might as well get on top of it now.
- Declutter your workspace. I don’t know about you, but my office could do with a major clear up. I know exactly where everything is but still it could do with a tidy. I am a firm believer in the “Clear space, clear mind” way of thinking and this time of year is a good time to commit to doing it.
- It is not just your business life you can cleanse but also your home as well. I for one will be concentrating on the enormous pile of personal filing that I seem to have accumulated over the last year! So, think about the areas that you can declutter and organise at home. So many times, we forget our personal tasks in favour of our business ones, but they need dealing with too.
These are just some ideas for getting yourself in order. Spend some time in December doing these and that way you can hit the ground running in the New Year.
I hope that you found this useful and if you would like some more ideas on how to declutter and cleanse your business life please do get in touch at emma@theumbrellatree.co.uk or visit www.theumbrellatree.co.uk