Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Your Holiday is Over, Get Back to Work!

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Saturnalia, and every other winter solstice celebration!

We hope you had a fantastic time with family, friends, and college bowl games. Don't you wish it could last longer? But now the year is back in full swing. 

And what a busy year it has shaped up to be. I don't know about you, but I've done more in the past 10 days than the last month, and that's not saying December was a sleeper, either! So we're all back from break, ready for action, and there's more to get done than ever before. 

How does that align with those great resolutions we all made while still under the stupor of eggnog, food comas, and cheap champagne? It would seem a reckoning is at hand. 

My suggestion? Simplify and organize. Sure, now you're really overwhelmed, but you're going to need to take a few moments and figure out what is truly important, then how to proceed to achieve your obligations and goals most effectively. Just like you have made your business operation more environmentally responsible and streamlined (you did, didn't you?), get yourself in line!

Here's how:
Cut the complexity and regain focus (It's tempting to want to tell the whole story of your latest project, but a quick summary gets the idea across better for the majority. If someone wants more information, they'll ask.).
Manage your time (Do your activities help your business, your family? If not, then it's time to reconsider.). 
Look inwards (What's most important? Is that getting your deserved attention?).

I know, they seem so oft-repeated and ridiculous, but they do work, for both yourself and business strategy.