Spring–Cleaning: ˈspriŋ-ˈklē-niŋ – noun — The comprehensive and meticulous cleaning of a space or room, usually done during the spring months.
This is what people typically focus on when undertaking their spring cleaning tasks. However, there’s an aspect of your business that you may want to consider tackling this spring along with the scrubbing of desk drawers and the shredding of old documents. When is the last time you had a look at your day-to-day and eliminated the things that were decreasing your productivity?
In this blog we’ll have a look at some of the ways to rid your business of the activities that are clogging up the funnel of productivity so you can leave Q1 in the dust!
Control Freak
We get it — letting go of responsibility and giving it to someone else can really be tough. However, if you’re the CEO of your company and you’re spending more than 30 minutes a day on administrative tasks because you can’t let it go, you are taking away valuable time from your business that could be focused on growth strategies and a boost in sales.
Plus, you’re paying your employees to make your life easier and help the business run. Don’t waste that money by filling their days with busy work and mundane tasks. Find an employee you trust, train them on what they need to know, and move on to bigger and better things!
Going Down the Email Hole
As a small business owner, there is never a shortage of emails in your inbox. From vendors to “cold callers” looking for leads, it isn’t rare to have 50+ unread messages awaiting your attention when you wake up in the morning. With technology always readily available in our pockets, it’s easy to constantly check your inbox.
Think about it, though. How many times have you been in the middle of a task, checked your email and then dropped everything to reply to someone? The answer is probably more than you’d like to admit. (And the number of times you’ve remembered to go back to the task you were doing is most likely very small).
Instead of constantly checking your inbox, set an hour at the beginning of the day, and an hour at the end of the day where you will devote yourself to emails. This will allow you to focus on the plan for the day without distractions and in turn get more done!
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Daily Planner
So much time is wasted on disorganized days and hectic schedules that have no flow or reason to them. You have so much going on in your head and so many things to get done that it’s easy to jump around from task to task, drive across town for a lunch meeting only to drive back across town to meet a supplier.
Start off by planning three days at a time. This isn’t as daunting a task as scheduling out your entire week, but will allow you to start organizing your appointments, meetings and tasks in a way that’s efficient and makes sense. The hardest part? Sticking to the schedule you create.
Things will always come up that take priority, but set an example for your employees by trying your hardest to stay on task and be as productive as the day allows!
The “Do-It-Tomorrow”
Procrastination isn’t always a habit of lazy or unmotivated people. It can also be caused by someone who has too many ideas and plans on how to get things done. When you set yourself a big goal, and you have the mind of an entrepreneur, it’s so easy to become overwhelmed and “stuck” at Phase 1.
So, break it down! Instead of waking up tomorrow with the plan to get the entire project done, break it up into 1-2 hour intervals of work over the next 5 days. Set obtainable goals and task lists for each day so that instead of having to get 50 things done, you only have to finish a few items each day.
This is also helpful if you’re overwhelmed at the idea of spring cleaning your home — tackle a few tasks/day for the month of March and it will be clean before you know it! Also, don’t be afraid to say “no!” Over-committing to tasks and events will kill productivity by taking you away from what needs to get done and you’ll feel burned out before you tackle the most important tasks.
“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.” – Olin Miller
Any entrepreneur will tell you that they wish they could be more productive and find more hours in the day to get things done. So often we focus on finding the next app or employee that is designed to keep us on track and make sure we get as much done as possible. Yet, there are so many things we can do within our own power that can help take your productivity to the next level.
Take some time this week and “spring clean” some areas of your daily routine that have become a hindrance to the success of yourself and your business. You’ll thank yourself for it!
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