Scheduling Office Time is Crucial to Your Sanity
You’re really busy! I got it….this is how life is now. We are always in work mode, transport mode or maintenance mode for our office or home. And don’t forget your family time!
But what about time in your office? Don’t forget about handling your paperwork and spending time working in your office. Paperwork and scheduled office time is crucial to your success. It is very easy to be so absorbed in your clients, networking and your day to day activities that we can forget about scheduling time to keep things running smoothly.
Planning just a morning or afternoon each week, just a few hours, is all that it will take to keep your office organized and keep you focused on your goals. It will also allow you time to keep yourself focused and in plan mode.
There will always be something that can and will easily distract you from taking the time needed to spend in your home office. Especially if this is the last place that you really want to spend your time. It is a lonely time, especially if you are an Entrepreneur. It is necessary for you to be able to motive yourself to file the paperwork, manage your contacts, schedule and follow-up with potential clients and current clients and keep yourself on track. And…no one appreciates it – except you!
It is doing those things that we don’t like to do – or don’t want to do – that will make the most difference in the daily organization of your home and home office. One of the things that I really don’t like to do is paperwork. And the worst part is that the computer hasn’t made it any easier. Electronic files have to be “filed away” just like our paper files. And having an appropriate and accurate filing system for your physical and computer files is extremely important to your success and sanity.
Spending time in your home office is imperative to your success and one of those necessary evils of being in business but it doesn’t have to be your least favorite task. Here are some things that I changed up in my business to make it easier for me to document, file and track my client information and To Do List. These three simple tools help keep the amount of incoming paperwork to my office – and I am no longer looking for the “book” that I wrote the note in.
1. I use an app called Colornote on my Android phone to document all of my password information. All of my passwords are different, and yes, there is a paper backup of everything, but…when I need to remember a new password and I am not in my office, I just pull it up on my phone. After all, I don’t go anywhere without my phone. Do you?
2. I use Inkpad to organize my To Do List. It is the same type of concept as Colornote and again, it is on my Android that gets backed up every day so it makes it easy for me to make a note when I am with a client and not forget anything.
3. I limit my paper files. Those files have a generic title and I keep a list of my paper files in a clear sleeve and posted on desk. This easily allows me to know where things should be filed instead of making a “new file” for everything. Having duplicate files for the same topic is something that I see with so many of my clients.
Keep yourself and your business moving in the right direction. Keep your office systems simple and easy and don’t forget to schedule time each week to be “in your office”.
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