Do you know what the number one New Year's Resolution according to a poll conducted in December 2010 was? You would probably guess right away that it was "Lose weight and get healthy" or "Get out of debt", right? Wrong.
The number one New Year's resolution for 2011 was "Get more organized.
" That's right.
Even more important than better health or stronger finances was the desire to streamline and simplify with the ultimate desire being to focus and achieve goals.
Have you ever felt like for every two steps forward you take in your business (or in your life), you take three steps backward? Do you know the greatest reason for this? Clutter.
Yup.
It's really that simple.
What is clutter? Clutter is defined as "a confused or disordered state.
" Anything that gets in the way of your focus or keeps you from doing something else you want to do is clutter.
Ever feel overwhelmed by clutter? Of course.
In order to beat clutter we need to understand that there are two kinds of clutter: physical and mental.
The physical kind is more obvious and less easy to ignore.
Every day we are bombarded by emails screaming for our attention.
Our desks are covered with important piles that we spend precious minutes madly shuffling through muttering "I know it's here!" Our calendars are filled with meetings and appointments.
Then, when we pull into our driveways at the end of the day (or look out the window if we're fortunate enough to work at home) we see that the grass is already above our ankles (again).
One of the first things I address through my coaching programs is how to clear the clutter because I know that, otherwise, there's no such thing as a successful business.
Here are four ways to stop physical clutter from overwhelming your life.
1.
Work off your business priorities, not your email inbox.
Highly productive workers use email as a communication tool rather than responding to emails as they arrive.
Focus on what needs to be done for your job and prioritize email review and response with that in mind.
2.
Collaborate with others as much as possible; either through online or phone conferencing.
Two (or more) heads are better than one but precious time can be lost sending emails back and forth between several people.
3.
Use communication tools such as AT&T Unified Messaging.
Unify communications to get back one hour of your life per day.
Rather than using separate tools and devices to check email, make phone calls and message clients, businesses are increasingly using "unified communications" to combine them into one tool.
Sage Research estimates this system can increase productivity by over 12.
5 percent or one hour per day.
4.
Delegate as much as possible.
Someone else can take care of simple business tasks for you or mow your lawn.
If cost is a concern, consider the kid down the street or contact a business college for interns who can help.
Commit to checking email and returning messages only three times a day at most and checking personal email at personal time.
Use an egg timer and spend only 10 minutes on email, flag the emails that require more time and address those at the end of the day.
Determine ONE thing that you could delegate to someone else.
Reach out to me at info@camposcoaching.
com to schedule a time for us to chat about your business and to see which of my coaching programs is the best fit for you.
The number one New Year's resolution for 2011 was "Get more organized.
" That's right.
Even more important than better health or stronger finances was the desire to streamline and simplify with the ultimate desire being to focus and achieve goals.
Have you ever felt like for every two steps forward you take in your business (or in your life), you take three steps backward? Do you know the greatest reason for this? Clutter.
Yup.
It's really that simple.
What is clutter? Clutter is defined as "a confused or disordered state.
" Anything that gets in the way of your focus or keeps you from doing something else you want to do is clutter.
Ever feel overwhelmed by clutter? Of course.
In order to beat clutter we need to understand that there are two kinds of clutter: physical and mental.
The physical kind is more obvious and less easy to ignore.
Every day we are bombarded by emails screaming for our attention.
Our desks are covered with important piles that we spend precious minutes madly shuffling through muttering "I know it's here!" Our calendars are filled with meetings and appointments.
Then, when we pull into our driveways at the end of the day (or look out the window if we're fortunate enough to work at home) we see that the grass is already above our ankles (again).
One of the first things I address through my coaching programs is how to clear the clutter because I know that, otherwise, there's no such thing as a successful business.
Here are four ways to stop physical clutter from overwhelming your life.
1.
Work off your business priorities, not your email inbox.
Highly productive workers use email as a communication tool rather than responding to emails as they arrive.
Focus on what needs to be done for your job and prioritize email review and response with that in mind.
2.
Collaborate with others as much as possible; either through online or phone conferencing.
Two (or more) heads are better than one but precious time can be lost sending emails back and forth between several people.
3.
Use communication tools such as AT&T Unified Messaging.
Unify communications to get back one hour of your life per day.
Rather than using separate tools and devices to check email, make phone calls and message clients, businesses are increasingly using "unified communications" to combine them into one tool.
Sage Research estimates this system can increase productivity by over 12.
5 percent or one hour per day.
4.
Delegate as much as possible.
Someone else can take care of simple business tasks for you or mow your lawn.
If cost is a concern, consider the kid down the street or contact a business college for interns who can help.
Commit to checking email and returning messages only three times a day at most and checking personal email at personal time.
Use an egg timer and spend only 10 minutes on email, flag the emails that require more time and address those at the end of the day.
Determine ONE thing that you could delegate to someone else.
Reach out to me at info@camposcoaching.
com to schedule a time for us to chat about your business and to see which of my coaching programs is the best fit for you.
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