Organize Your Business: A 1-Day Jumpstart For Year-End Clarity
A Note To Readers: Heads up, this week’s blog is slightly longer because I’m a little passionate about organization and helping those in my circle stay on top of things! I’ve packed this with detailed action steps but if you’re looking for help navigating any of these, feel free to reach out and we can collaborate on your end-of-year organizational and operational needs.
As the year draws to a close, the buzz of holiday festivities and the anticipation of a fresh start in the coming year can be both invigorating and overwhelming. Personally, I love this time of year. Though, it also seems to be a time where everything that’s been piling up for the last 12-months is highlighted.
I’ve found that my workspace, both digital and physical, is a mirror of my mind. When it’s cluttered, my thoughts seem to bounce around like a pinball, making it difficult to focus and plan effectively. However, when things are organized, I can breathe. My mind clears, and I can fully concentrate on those crucial end-of-year strategy sessions without the nagging thought of unanswered emails or disorganized files. That’s why I’ve introduced a personal ritual – the ‘1-day End of Year Business Organization Challenge’.
This challenge is all about carving out a little bit of time on your calendar to get things in order for the benefit and success of your business. It’s about taking care of the basic organization in your physical and digital workspace so you can step into the new year feeling refreshed and ready to conquer.
The Need for Year-end Organization
As the year winds down, taking the time to declutter and streamline operations becomes a strategic necessity. The benefits extend far beyond a tidy desk or an orderly inbox; they directly impact productivity, efficiency, stress levels, and the overall success of your business.
Imagine having no low-hanging fruit circling in the back of your mind during those strategy sessions or even during the holidays. Imagine being able to jump right back into the thick of things come January, with no looming organization tasks hanging over your head. That’s the kind of peace this challenge can bring.
The 1-day End of Year Business Organization Challenge
Step 1: Organize Your Workspace
An organized workspace (both physical and digital) sets the foundation for a more streamlined and efficient operation. It’s not just about aesthetics. This step will help minimize distractions, support the efficient retrieval of important files and information, and boost mental clarity allowing you to be more focused each day.
Decluttering Your Physical Workspace: It’s always easiest to start with the clutter that physically surrounds you. Find a place on a bookshelf or cabinet for items on your desk that you don’t need everyday; toss out old papers, notebooks, or sticky notes; and layout your desks (including how your monitors are set up) in a way that best suits how you prefer to work and sit each day.
Taming Your Digital Jungle: This may take a bit longer and will vary based on your preferences. I won’t say whether to start with your inbox or your files here as it depends on what you procrastinate on the most and if you’re an eat-the-frog or low-hanging-fruit-first type of person. I will simply point out that you don’t need to over-organize here. Simplicity is best. For instance, I don’t organize my emails because I don’t find a need to do it. On Gmail, I have separate inboxes that automatically organize emails based on Priority, Social Media, and Updates (like calendar acceptances). From there, I choose to archive instead of deleting so that I can always search for what I need in the future. I can never keep up with an email folder system so I don’t. But, my inbox is still very organized and functions how I need it to. Additionally, I don’t store any files in my emails. If there’s an important attachment, it gets saved into an appropriate folder in my Google Drive. Find what works for you.
Step 2: Review Open Action Items
The next crucial step is to get a comprehensive understanding of your open action items. This step helps to wrap-up the year and set the stage for the new year. What good are new year goals if you’re still hanging on to last year’s work? Though, I should clarify you don’t need to finish everything on your list before you check-out for Christmas. The key here is to differentiate between what needs immediate attention and what can wait until after the holidays.
Minimize Your Do-Now List: Craft a strategy for the ‘do-now’ list. We want to minimize your potential for overwhelm and burnout. I don’t think the holidays should be just about recuperating and recovering from the year – you should go into them with energy to truly enjoy the time. You can approach this in two different ways. You could decide to knock out all the low-hanging fruit and small tasks first. This way, you clear the deck for bigger things in the new year. Or, if you find that your goals are still underachieved, you might choose to focus on some big-picture tasks. These are the tasks that will help you cross the finish line.
Leverage Task Management Tools: Part of our end-of-year strategy sessions always includes a review of our processes and systems. Now, this challenge isn’t meant to include a full review like that but if you’re not using a task management tool, then you’re likely to fall into similar organization pitfalls in the new year. These tools are essential for keeping you apprised for what needs to be done and what’s coming up next. You could start with free tools like Asana, Microsoft To Do, or Google Tasks. If you need more robust platforms, consider options like ClickUp or Monday.com. Use these tools to categorize your tasks, set deadlines, and track progress.
Step 3: Review Your Team Job Descriptions & Gaps
Do you remember when your mom would tell you to clean your room, and she’d say, “Everything has a place, and everything in its place”? Well, mom was onto something. This advice isn’t just applicable to our bedrooms; it’s equally relevant to our workspaces, especially when it comes to our team’s roles.
As we prepare to wrap up the year, it’s essential to ensure that everyone on our team, including ourselves, has a clear role. We want everyone to be set up for success within that role. This clarity not only promotes efficiency but also fosters a sense of purpose and ownership among team members. But how do we achieve this?
Break Out Business Functions: I usually recommend breaking down your business into functions to start with. For simplicity, let’s consider three core functions: Sales, Service Delivery, and Cash Management. Now, list down the different tasks or processes that are crucial for success in each of these areas. This could include anything from lead generation in Sales to quality assurance in Service Delivery and invoice management in Cash Management.
Next, map these tasks to job descriptions or roles within your team. This exercise will give you a bird’s eye view of who is doing what and where each task falls.
Identify Faps & Overlaps: Compare this ideal scenario with your current reality. Are there tasks that no one is handling? That’s a gap. Are there tasks that multiple people are handling? That’s an overlap. Are there tasks that are hindering efficiency rather than boosting it? That’s a potential area for improvement.
Step 4: Create An Organization Plan For The New Year
Your plan to stay organized is kind of like your planned boundaries for the new year. You’re describing what work-life balance may look like to you and what habits you’ll need to introduce in order to achieve your goals while maintaining that balance. Remember, whatever you decide here isn’t carved in stone. It’s meant to work for you and can adapt as new challenges and priorities arise in the new year.
Crafting Your Work-Life Balance Vision: This looks different for everyone. I know some in my circle that are Gary-Vee-type of entrepreneurs – work is their hobby and no day is too long because they love everything they do. For others, they love their business but family also takes a big seat at the priority table. You need to be clear on how you want your business to play a role in your life and think through what habits you may need to introduce to maintain that balance.
Explore Time Management Techniques: A key to maintaining this balance and staying organized is having effective time management. This is another area that looks different depending on other priorities in your life, your personality, your work style, etc. I like to use a combination of techniques including a weekly ‘Zero Out’ routine, calendar blocking, and the Eisenhower Matrix.
Balance Through Delegation: Take a moment to review your workload. You may refer back to your Business Functions exercise for this. If you find that you’ve stacked yourself with too many responsibilities, then it may be time to expand your team. A virtual executive assistant, for example, could be a game-changer for you. They could handle administrative tasks, freeing up your time to focus on strategic decisions and goal achievement. Check out our Stay Focused & Delegate guide to learn more about the tasks a VA can handle for you.
Sustainable Business Transformation
The goal of this 1-Day Challenge is to provide a catalyst for introducing organization habits to transform your business. When you get through the action items for the challenge, you shouldn’t stop there.
Your vision of work-life balance and weekly organization challenges will be your guiding stars. From there, you can dictate what habits you introduce and what routines you need to commit to. At minimum you want to regularly be reviewing important emails, open action items to achieve goals, and the efficiency of your team.
If you need help navigating this challenge or an ongoing transformation, we’re here to help you! We’d love to hear your experience with organization and see if we can help conquer any challenges together. You can reach out to us anytime here.