Running Your LNC Business 3-part blog series ends with this final part. If you missed the first one, click here to read it now. You can read Part 2 here.
I will review the last 7 tips to keep you and your business running as smoothly as possible. The theme of these tips is decluttering your LNC business. We all have more of it than we need. Find these easy tips on what to do about it.
1. Purge your Office Bookshelf
While the Rule of Three (tip 7 from last week) is a great strategy for getting rid of things, we tend to accumulate books (especially us bibliophiles).
Throw out a book? Yikes!
To rid yourself of some pages, begin by sorting your books into categories:
- Relevant and Current
- Evergreen Authority Books
- Favorite Must-Keep
- Old and Outdated
Then, take the outdated, irrelevant books and donate or sell them. Trust me, you don’t need to hold onto that “Windows 95 for Dummies.”
2. Find a New LNC
If you have textbooks that a new LNC could use, offer them up. And do this in an ethical manner. Be sure you are passing on value, not junk.
When one of my colleagues was leaving the LNC world, I bought sight unseen her materials. She told me she had books, resumes of experts, and case studies that I’d find valuable.
When the boxes arrived, I discovered she dumped the contents of her filing cabinets into boxes and shipped them to me. I bought a lot of useless stuff that became my responsibility to discard.
3. To Avoid Overwhelm, Set Daily Limits
Instead of taking a day or week to dedicate solely to getting rid of it all and tackling every pile of junk, chunk it up!
Emotionally and physically, it can be very taxing to tackle decluttering your LNC business. You might even end up giving up if all you see is too much work and not enough time.
Instead, make a list of the areas, both online and physical, that need to be addressed. Then make a decluttering schedule, which can be daily or weekly. This will help you feel accomplished instead of overwhelmed.
When I had to thin out old filing cabinets, I put a pile of files on my dining room table. Each morning while I ate breakfast, I went through a stack of file, separating out what I needed and what I should put into the recycling. It took me about 2 weeks to go through 6 drawers, and it felt great to finish it.
4. Use Lists Wisely
As discussed in the previous point, make a decluttering schedule, but don’t arbitrarily throw down every single thing that you need to do. Instead, organize it by priority.
This list will help you stay on track, prevent procrastination, and help you see progress as you cross off items. Additionally, when you complete the larger, higher priority items, you’ll enjoy the feeling of having a weight lifted off your shoulders, and you experience the benefits of completing the task.
If you do end up off track or something takes longer than expected, don’t be upset if you have to re-work the schedule. More importantly, make a note of the priorities for the next few days and proceed as planned.
5. Listen to the Right De-Cluttering Music
Make something not entirely enjoyable, more fun by listening to music. But don’t play just any music!
Energizing music, whatever that is for you, is the go-to for activities requiring lots of physical output – moving furniture, packing up items to donate, cleaning, etc.
6. Declutter Your Hard Drive
Yes, those little files add up. My 2 Terabyte hard drive is 75% filled. Move large files, such as video files, off your computer to an external hard drive. You don’t need 7 versions of your PowerPoint, just the last one. Empty your recycling bin and move files off your download file.
Make sure you back up your hard drive using a back up service. Don’t rely on yourself to remember to do it.
Calming music is the best choice for decluttering your computer. Choosing meditation tracks or instrumental versions is the perfect option for when you need to actively read things so that you don’t get distracted trying to sing the song.
7. De-Junk your Social Media Too
Social media interaction can be a bit of a black hole. And that’s not including if you get pulled into watching cat videos.
Tips to de-clutter this area:
- Set a specific time to check social media each day, which should be optimized for whenever your target audience is online.
- Delegate checking social sites to your VA. Or perhaps nix them if they don’t benefit your business anymore.
- Have your VA do all of your social media check-ins and report to you with items that you need to handle directly.
- Use a social media management system for posting to ensure top-priority items will always be posted at the optimal time for your audience.
Now that we have completed our full listing of 21 organizational tips and tricks, there is no perfect, universal formula of methods to accomplish this for all LNC businesses.
Decluttering your LNC business requires you to commit to it. Read all three of our posts on this topic and start by choosing a few tips to follow. Once you’ve de-cluttered, you’ll likely notice yourself enjoying work more and having increased productivity, too.
Here’s to optimizing our time and work environments!
Set up a time to talk with me about how to grow your LNC business. Click on this link to request a call: http://LNC.tips/gethelp
Pat Iyer is president of The Pat Iyer Group, which develops resources to assist LNCs to obtain more clients, make more money, and achieve their business goals and dreams.
Pat’s related websites include the continuing education provided on LNCEU.com, the podcasts broadcast at podcast.legalnursebusiness.com, and writing tips supplied at patiyer.com.