The new year is here and if you haven’t already gotten into the groove, it’s time to get your new year off to a running start with things that will support you. Whether you are an business owner or not, you need tips, tools and systems to get your year off to a rolling start and help keep it rolling throughout the year.
This is the time of year for resolutions, but we don’t think about getting things in order and people are typically scrambling this time of year to get off to a good start after a hectic holiday season, but there are ways of avoiding that scramble–at any time of the year. Your business/work setting as well as your home should run like a well-oiled machine. The best thing you can possibly do to support yourself is to set up systems to streamline your tasks. Your business or work environment should have systems in place for every area: filing, sales, accounting, payroll, etc. The same applies to your home environment. Each system carries out processes that contribute to the environment as a whole, ultimately leading to increased productivity.
To begin to get your systems in place, start by looking at what’s working. If there is a system in place that’s working, leave it in place but look to see what improvements might be made to that system. Next, look at what’s not working, get rid of it and create a system that does work; one that will support you. For example, your filing system should include three types of files, reference, action and archive. Not having a solid filing system in place and using it is one of the top things that will waste your time. Statistically speaking, people waste 1.5-2.0 hours each day looking for things. That translates into 7-10 hours every week of wasted time just for one person. Think about the money that’s wasted just on looking for things. Not having systems in place can break you and negatively impact your bottom line.