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As another year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to clear space, tidy up systems and re-define goals to set up your coming year for a full slate of expertly executed events. Sure…you can reflect on some gratitudes and “commit” to some resolutions but our fav way to close out a year is by decluttering, organizing and strategizing our working systems so come January 1, we can hit the ground running to our goals.
Here’s a quick guide to our top areas of focus to get in tip-top shape before the countdown begins.
CLEAN IT ALL UP…LIKE LITERALLY
Let’s get physical, physical….and by that we mean clean up the physical space around you. Clear out every desk drawer, wipe down every surface, hit The Container Store and get so super organized. You know that pen holder full of $.02 Bic pens that no one actually likes and real pencils, like the kind that need a sharpener that you don’t even have?? Toss 'em! Set yourself up with a sleek selection of your favorite ballpoints.
Really roll up your sleeves, and go through every single paper and either file or trash it. Restock your stapler and tape dispenser. Get down and dirty on the crevices of your keyboard. Get everything around you stored, organized and sparkly clean!
DECLUTTER YOUR DIGITAL LIFE
More and more our stacks of paperwork and millions of colorful Post-Its are taking new forms within our screens, but how often are we taking time to tidy up our digital work space? Come the end of the year your desktop might look like a virtual grenade blew open the last 12 months of work.
From hard drive storage to Cloud-based platforms, December is the right time to declutter and re-strategize your online office. These are a few areas we find to be the most in need of a freshening up.
· Desktop folders and randomly saved files (that you were too lazy to save in the right place).
· Browser bookmarks (that somehow have a recipe for sourdough saved in your Budgets folder).
· Digital calendars (that are still showing that weekly standing meeting that hasn’t happened since June).
· Project management software (that has projects that never were used and shared with team members who are long gone).
· Communication systems - i.e. Slack (that need a refresh on your channels and workspaces).
· Notes apps (that have every misc great idea but in no usable format).
· Mobile phone apps and folders (that end up taking up four swipe pages and you still can’t find Instagram).
PROTECT YOUR PASSWORDS, BUT ALSO, JUST REMEMBER THEM
Listen, we’re not here to tell you how many special characters your passwords need to contain or that you should change them bi-monthly. But, we do think it’s a good idea to have some system in place for finding passwords when you need them. There are a lot of opinions here about if and where batches of passwords should be stored so we won’t get into that. You determine your own system and then at the end of the year, make sure your system is updated and still works. Because, no one wants to spend 45-minutes trying every combination of their first pet plus their High School jersey number plus a random exclamation mark that might be at the beginning or maybe middle or end.
MONEY MIGHT TALK, BUT NOT IF YOU ROLL WITHOUT A PLAN
Nobody likes asking for money but you can’t run a successful event planning biz if you do everything for free. Get yourself a system for managing your contracts, invoices and payments. This might be an Excel doc or it might be an online service (although we are big fans of the online automations services offer). Either way, use the last few weeks of December to get yourself ready for the coming year and setting up all of your budgets and financial systems. By getting all contracts renegotiated and expense plans detailed out, you will have a clear picture of what the coming year currently looks like and from there you can build!
CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE
Once the physical space around you provides a clean, clear working environment and your digital workspace is as tidy as Marie Kondo’s closet, you’re ready to really start to strategize on the big picture. Open up a virtual note (within a clearly organized folder, of course) or grab one of your fav pens and dream big!
Look at you! You are the queen (or king) of decluttering and have a clear vision board for your next year of event planning. You have tidied systems set up to keep you flowing and flourishing for the next 12 months! Did you have any favorite end of year re-start steps we missed? Let us know!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jenna Thompson
Jenna is a mountain based Yogi with a love for veggie focused foods. When she's not in Warrior Pose you can find her spending time with her Avalanche Rescue Dog Luna with a Matcha Latte in hand!
