Make time to do a 1st quarter review & clean up for the spring
Ah, spring cleaning. We love it and hate it! You might be in the middle of spring cleaning now, packing up your winter clothes (finally!), cleaning the windows, dusting those hard-to-reach spaces. It’s hard to get started, but it feels so good when you get it done!
Our businesses need the same kind of cleaning as we move into this new quarter. Take advantage of this time to review your goals and clean up the things that are preventing you from moving forward. Here are a few tips:
- Get rid of things that aren’t working for you. You might have started the year with a long list of new habits, apps, and systems that you had hoped would make you more efficient. Or perhaps you’ve held onto habits that you knew weren’t working. Take time to review these systems and habits and make an honest assessment of whether they’re working, what needs to be discarded, and what should be dusted off.
- Organize your inbox. If that phrase makes you shudder, it’s time! I’ve found it incredibly helpful to follow the “Inbox zero” method, of categorizing emails and literally getting your inbox to zero. (Yes, it IS possible). Here’s an article on how to set up Inbox zero for Gmail: https://gmelius.com/blog/inbox-zero-gmail.
- Declutter your office and workspace (computer desktop, etc.). Especially during this time of COVID as we’re spending more time working from home, I’m assuming some things have made their way to your desk that are cluttering your workspace. Remove everything (yes, everything!), dust everything off, and then only put back the things you will truly need.
- Dust off and deep clean your books. If you’re anything like me, you might quickly input expenses or sales occasionally, with a note that you’ll come back to it. And then…you never do. It’s critical to periodically go through your books, fully organize and categorize everything, and ensure that your system is up to date so that you don’t get too far behind.
- Finally, review your goals and adjust as needed. This is perhaps the most important part of the process. Once you’ve decluttered and cleaned things off, you can assess your goals more clearly. Look over your goals for 2022 and ask yourself how you’ve done thus far. Refer to my previous post for year-end questions that would be useful for this assessment. And if you need to do more cleaning after this assessment, be sure to make time for it!
Do you have other ways that you’re “cleaning out” your business this month?
Contact me below to share your questions or thoughts.