Spring… A beautiful time of the year not only for the brighter weather and vibrant blossom trees but also a good opportunity for us to refresh and wipe the slate clean for the next season.
Perhaps you might resonate with the familiar feeling of dread seeing that red number beside your inbox gradually creeping up or the invoices you urgently need to get round to sorting out. January’s motivation has probably teetered, and as we are approaching the financial year end, now is a great time to take stock.
So how can a Spring reset help you to get ahead, and what can you do to lighten the load?
An inbox deep clean
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and assess your inbox. What can stay, what new folders do you need to organise your email content? Are some folders still relevant or can be archived? Have you swept your junk mail and draft mail? Try and tick of ten flagged items in a set time period, perhaps 1 hour per week to really comb through what can be replied to or deleted. Starting afresh with a new inbox will make tasks more manageable and less time consuming if you know where everything is and organised in folders. And whilst you’re there cleaning, does your email signature need a refresh? Perhaps you’ve got updated contact details or logo’s/accreditations to add in now, worth a check.
Finesse the financials
Invoices can be tricky and time consuming. Make an invoicing spreadsheet log so you can tick off what has been processed and what is overdue. Having a record will help you in the long term to ensure you don’t pay anybody twice in error or miss any urgent invoices that could cause problems. Allocate a window of time that is dedicated solely to invoices, an afternoon or a whole day per month if needed.
Detox the diary
Respond to any diary invites that are sitting tentatively in your calendar, this not only helps the organiser but helps you clearly identify gaps/ free periods in your diary that can be maximised for work or personal time. Checking your to-do list/ meeting notes for any future actions which will prompt you to diarise that 1-1 you need with your employee or a call with HR, whatever it is, this will help get them ticked off your to-do list. Also check your diary for any clashes and try to reorganise where possible to avoid tricky last-minute cancellations.
Dust off your socials
Bring back life to your Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram (or other platforms) by logging in and reviewing when you last posted. Perhaps you need to create a content planner to forward plan your posts and allow you time to source content. Social media is more powerful than ever in the virtual world so cleaning up your profiles and giving them back their sparkle is great for business.
If you’re reading this and wondering ‘If only there was someone who could do all this for me, I don’t have the time’, well the solution is hiring a VA! There’s a team of 6 dedicated Virtual Assistants at LJM VA Services who can pick up all of the above and lots much more to support you and make life easier.
For more information, take a look over at our ‘Services’ page for more details.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
