3 Simple Commandments for Your Busy Season Reset

As we move in leaps and bounds towards the busiest time of year, it gives me a renewed enthusiasm to tackle business goals, streamline systems and attack that to-do pile.

Running a business can feel overwhelming when file management gets out of hand or you think “I’ll sort that out tomorrow” too often. It can feel like you’ve got 300 balls in the air and half a hand free.

It doesn’t need to be a bid to see how long you can pull this off. 

Harness your energy for good use, I know you’ve got it in you. As we head into the busiest time of year for many businesses, let’s look at how you can be both intentional and ambitious in making your workflow smooth and organised.

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So, let’s be gentle about this. 

First off, put the hammer down. We don’t need to demolish what you are working with, instead look at ways you can restructure systems you have to work better, not harder. We tend to be waaaay more critical of our own creations and businesses than other people. It is important to remember that sometimes, done is better than perfect.

(But hey – if both are up for the taking? We’ll have ‘em).

So what does this reset look like for you? 

There are a few commandments to establish to make sure that you are managing your time, workflow and priority well. Note that the word ‘priority’ is singular.
There is one at a time – not plural.
Monotasking and being present is key to having a deep, refreshing reset because you feel the dopamine hit of seeing something through to completion, rather than half-assing five things. Let’s look at how to mentally reset and focus your attention.

IDENTIFY PROBLEM AREAS

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure you’re the type of hooman that loves feeling organised. You might have things you LOVE staying on top of. Updates on your socials, creating new offerings or expanding your team. I love to see it! HOWEVER (and I don’t want to be a mood kill) if you’re like me, you can favour your schedule to your strengths or what feels fun in the moment. This can mean the ‘tomorrow’ tasks fall into the ‘never’ bucket. It’s not cause you are lazy, incompetent or evil. Poor planning is absolutely glued together with good intentions.

Let’s zoom in our ‘problem areas’
-Any conversations you need to have, being moved back in the calendar?
-Are there financial things you’ve been avoiding?
-People you need to check in with?
-A messy drawer of denial – full of things that you don’t want to deal with?
-Internal work that you always abandon for other tasks?

Pause here. “Out of sight, out of mind” seems like a great rule, till it ain’t.

The first step is identifying your problem areas. Think about:
-How long have I been avoiding this thing?
-Am I avoiding it because I don’t like it? I’m time-poor? I don’t know how to do it or I need help?What is my gut feeling when I think about fixing it?
-What would make the process of fixing it more fun?
-Who can I get on my team to help me?
-Am I weighing up urgency with significance, or are they one and the same?

LEAD WITH INTENTIONALITY

It is hard to find your way on a compass that doesn’t have directions marked. Not hard, actually- impossible. Take a look at the decisions you are making in your business and how they impact your problem areas.

Why are you doing what you’re doing? If you find that you tend to be really reactive to trends, organisation systems you find in books, friends’ opinions, heck, even lectures from your dentists’ mum – you might be coming under fire for information overload.

Be intentional with what you have on your plate and how you spend your time.

TACKLE IT, WITH ORDER AND STRUCTURE

I know there are SO. MANY. SUGGESTIONS. for good task management out there (and maybe you don’t need another system), but this one? It works really well. And it’s simple. WIN.
Here you go: There are two ‘divisions’. High vs low importance. Urgent vs non-urgent. That’s it.It is fairly intuitive but if you are notorious for prioritising doom-scrolling over tackling your business goals, you might need a helping hand to audit what belongs in each category.

HELP! I DON’T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD BE RESETTING OR WORKING ON?!
I am going to assume you are not a flawless, completely masterful business person. You might feel a little lost sometimes, thinking that a to-do list or compass might appear in front of you. Sadly, no luck.

Here are some ideas of what you might want to be looking at.
– Sort out your templates for client-facing documents
– Schedule your Q4 email marketing, plan for any upcoming digital sales (hello Black Friday) and scarily – start thinking of your Christmas marketing efforts
– Stay further ahead of your content calendar than usual. Breathing space.
– Take inventory of stock. It can be easy to skip stocktake when you’re a small team but what is your plan when you scale? Get in the habit now.
– Start creating a ‘second brain’ . An organised dumping ground for all your thoughts, ideas, feelings, creations— everything. It is ideally not for public consumption. It is intentional, just log things as they come to you. The more you get things out of your head and external to you, the more you have space to keep having ideas.
– Tie up any loose invoices or things to be paid. It is ALWAYS better to get it out the way.
– Refresh your presentation templates and documents
– Had any client or vendor horror stories this year?
Do you need to dust off the ol’ contracts you’ve had written up?
– Tidy up your desktop files, everything should have a home. Yep, even a digital home.
– Water your poor plants, for crying out loud.

Phew, that’s a lot. Well done on sticking with me, it ain’t for the faint of heart! In over your head? Not sure where to start? Don’t get lost in the sauce, reach out and we’ll help you.

We can take your digital marketing overwhelm off your plate, so you can focus on growing your business. We love hearing from you. Tell us how you go with your biz reset.