Ask the Coach: A Robin’s Nest Above my Front Door – A Reminder
I am always in awe of how Robins find a spot to build their nests to hatch their newborns.
This year, one decided to secure a spot directly above my front door – making entry and exiting a bit stressful although Mom Robin and I have come to an agreement – I will not disrupt if she wont attack 😊
It is also a wonderful reminder that Spring is here, and with it comes the desire to clear clutter, clean up the garden, and spring clean up is not restricted to just home. This season, do not just reorganize your kitchen cupboards or deep clean your carpets, investigate cleaning up your business!
Here are a few ways you can declutter your business:
1. Paperwork & Bookkeeping
Paperwork can be overwhelming if not dealt with immediately – not everyone is using electronic files. As well, looking at your books and accounting records must be kept up to date. Looking at your books can also be used to look to the future of your finances, so it is important to keep your books up to date and organized
Steps to organize your books include:
Sorting receipts
Reviewing files and accounts
Keeping your business and personal expenses separate
Digitizing and automating whatever you can
Despite what it may feel like, it is in fact May already. How have you been working these past 5 months to reach your year end goals? Are your goals turning out to be unrealistic or not ambitious enough? Now is the time to look back on and reassess and redefine your goals for this year. Things change every single day, especially with the tumultuous times we’ve faced over the last two years, so your business and your goals should be able to change and adapt with it. Don’t be concerned if your objectives need adjusting.
2. Clean Up your Inbox
If you are anything like me, your email inbox can get a little out of control at times. Especially in the age of COVID and work from home, correspondence over email has become the mode of communication, meaning we are sending and receiving more emails than ever. I do a clean up once a week and it feels amazing.
Things you can do to clean things up is to unsubscribe from any unwanted newsletters or advertisements, delete emails that serve you no purpose, and mark any of the super important emails and put them in organized folders.
To keep things clean, you can go into your email settings and set up filters that send things like newsletters straight to “read later” so they don’t crowd your inbox, as well as setting up auto-replies.
3. Spruce up Your Workspace
All right, this is the fun part. The ability to work from home for many of us offers more temptation to leave it cluttered – no one is going to see it except you, right? However, having a clean and organized workspace is crucial for productivity and mental health while working those long hours in one spot.
If you have been working remotely using Zoom or Teams, you know that you can change your backdrop but why not set it up so that those on screen see something inspirational or personal. I’ve just added Orchids and fresh flowers on a table (that is visible on screen) surrounded with a new selection of business books and already had comments of how nice it is to see something fresh during an online meeting….
Beyond decluttering and a clean space, your workspace should be a place where you WANT to be – so personalize it and make it a space that reflects your aesthetic.
Running a company from home in the middle of a global pandemic is hard enough, make things a little easier on yourself by eliminating any clutter. It will put a spring in your step!
Happy Spring!
Best,
Merrill
We have the pleasure of joining forces with Merrill Pierce, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) accredited by Corporate Coach U, and a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF). She is also an accredited member of Society of Organizational Learning (SOL), and an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mediator certified by the ADR Institute of Canada.
Merrill has spent over 20 years working at a number of Fortune 500 companies, of which 10 years were at the senior executive level. This background provides her with a solid and practical understanding of personal and professional issues, challenges, and concerns. Merrill is also a regular contributor to the media and has published several articles and white papers on business related topics.
Merrill is ready to tackle YOUR questions! Whether they are personal, or professional - she can anonymously answer your submissions, and help you navigate any relevant challenges occurring in your life. Doing so could help others in similar situations and scenarios. Merrill will also be presenting advice on relevant, general topics to help our readers. If you want to send a question to Merrill please submit to submissions@explorefenelonfalls.com before the Monday of each week (otherwise your question may be held til a following week!).
