The end of the year is an excellent time to purge out your files and make room for the next year’s activities. Before starting, make sure you are familiar with your company’s Document Retention policies and procedures. If you head up a company, make sure that you have document retention policies and that your employees know what they are so that they can also clear out some files. If you run a small business or home based business you may want to check with your accountant for the retention requirements of business and tax documentation.
With all the rules taken care up, try starting small. Purging files is not the most exciting thing to do no matter which way you look at them. Try committing just 30 minutes a day for each of the next ten work days before the holidays. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish in the total of 5 hours.
Author Archive for Carolyn – Page 26
# 22 – Are you planning to decorate your house for the holidays? Book some time into your schedule. Maybe invite some friends or family? Check you decorations and make a list of any that need to be replaced or repaired. Have you switched to energy efficient bulbs yet? Why not switch this year.
# 21 – Review the meals that you will be cooking this holiday season. Prepare your menus and shopping list. Schedule time to actually do the shopping and any other preparation that is required ahead of the meal.
Many of us look forward to the New Year as a time to refresh, start anew and accomplish goals and make resolutions to get some things accomplished. Problem is, we don’t make the resolutions until he spur of the moment on at New Year’s and don’t book in the time to make sure they happen.
Pull out your calendar and next year’s as well. Don’t have next year’s yet? (That was #24). Start by booking yourself some serious time to think about your vision for your life next year. An hour alone is a great time to start but a three hour stint or 3, one hour sessions is not too long. Get it booked before the holiday swirl robs you of your planning time.
Take a look at next year’s calendar and start to book in the things you want to accomplish. Loose weight? Book in your time in the gym, your session with your trainer, time to investigate a nutritionist. Whatever it will take, get it booked.
Putting things in black and white on paper has a way of increasing the intention and commitment from “would really like to” (i.e. not likely to happen) to “am really going to”. Clear your vision for your life, get those goals identified and book them into your life.
Enjoy looking forward to the New Year and all the great things you will accomplish. Aim high.
It’s coming – no matter how you try and stave it off, the new year will be here in 27 days.
That means a number of things to a number of people; budgets, performance appraisals, sales targets are just some of the items that are lurking just beyond that January 1 holiday. How to get on top of it?
Start by listing all the items you know are due in the first weeks of the new year. Now start to plan when you will get them accomplished. Take out the calendar, look at the weeks ahead. Wow, already pretty packed right? That’s the problem with trying to get much of anything done during the month of December.
Nevertheless push on. Book in 2 – 3 hour blocks to accomplish those tasks due in the first couple of weeks. On your list of things to do, make a note of all the bits that need to be accomplished in addition to just getting the work done. Is there information you need to gather? Book time with your staff for performance appraisals? Pull together the sales reports? Now get these items booked in the calendar.
Smile and look forward to the New Year knowing your new year tasks are booked and ready to be tackled.
This post idea came from my 14 year-old-will-definitely-conquer-the-world daughter. She felt that my readers would need some help getting through the holiday season. Since today is the second day of December, I will cover off two items.
25. Prepare your exhaustive gift list. Make sure everyone you will need to prepare a gift for is on the list so that you avoid any last minute surprises that could have been anticipated. Note on the list what needs to be bought, what you already have and what needs to be made.
24. Check your December calendar and ensure that it is up to date with all the social commitments you have for the month. Make sure it includes any items that you need to take to those social commitments. Book in the time to make/purchase the items you will be taking. Find out who is cooking the Christmas dinner that you will be attending. Is it you?
Probably the number one item that clients want me to help them fix in either their home or their office is paper and filing. It seems that paper, and keeping track of the pieces we wish to keep, is a struggle even for the most organized.
Most people struggle over the structure of the filing system. “If I file something in here, I never know where it is and can never find it again.”My advice to clients is that there is no perfect filing system. There are good commercial systems, (e.g. Paper Tiger), there are common systems (alphabetized) often used in corporate settings and then there are the rest of us.
It is important that you pick a structure that works for you. If you organize visually, try using coloured files. If you are tend to talk to yourself and are auditorily oriented, try using file headings like “Keep this for Income Tax Time” or “Things I keep to refer back to”. Sound corny? Who cares? If it works for you, that’s all that matter.
Probably the number one item that clients want me to help them fix in either their home or their office is paper and filing. It seems that paper, and keeping track of the pieces we wish to keep, is a struggle even for the most organized.
Most people struggle over the structure of the filing system. “If I file something in here, I never know where it is and can never find it again.”
My advice to clients is that there is no perfect filing system. There are good commercial systems, (e.g. Paper Tiger), there are common systems (alphabetized) often used in corporate settings and then there are the rest of us.
It is important that you pick a structure that works for you. If you organize visually, try using coloured files. If you are tend to talk to yourself and are auditorily oriented, try using file headings like “Keep this for Income Tax Time” or “Things I keep to refer back to”. Sound corny? Who cares? If it works for you, that’s all that matter.
The weather gets colder as the economic forcast gets bleaker. Does anyone have any great stew recipes to warm the harth and keep the shopping list light? What’s on your menu this week?
Monday – Fish, salad, potatoes, peas
Tuesday – ( One away, possibly one extra) Pasta, salad, home made bread
Wednesday – Omelettes, bacon, salad
Thursday – (Swim meet) BBQ chicken & grilled vegetables
Friday – Pasta with chicken & vegetables
Saturday – (Swim meet) Tacos
Sunday – (Swim meet) Roast beef, potatoes, brocoli
A very peaceful and joyful Thanksgiving to all our American readers.
Here’s an interesting site for those of you living in small spaces. What’s not to love about a site named Loving. Living. Small?
Banish those procrastination gremlins!
Conquer Procrastination Cheat Sheet
Struggling with procrastination gremlins? Grab your free copy of Conquering Procrastination Cheat Sheet: 4 Procrastination Gremlins and the Tricks to Beat Them.
Website by Janet Barclay