Welcome to 2023!
Before the year starts to race away on you (I swear each year just gets faster and faster), here’s some of the things we do at ProjectBox to , help us get off to a good start!
Update your calendar
Whilst the end of the year might seem a mile away, now is a good time to update your calendar (especially if you are using a meeting booking platform such as Calendly or Squarespace Scheduling). There are a lot of days throughout the year that are fixed and that you already know whether you will be open or closed, so take half an hour now to populate and block out your calendar where needed. Below is the list of things that we add into our calendar at the start of every year:
- Public holidays – make sure to include not only your national country holidays, but also those that are state and town specific. For Australian public holidays, you can use this link!
- School holidays – if you are a working parent, get those school holidays blocked out now. This will help you to prepare with reduced working hours, days off, or holidays! For Australian school terms, please click here!
- Any other holidays that you already have planned – whether the tickets are booked or not, block the time out now! It’s much easier to remove the blocks then to find time for a holiday later on in the year.
- Other important dates – these are the ones that can’t be missed! Think of things like BAS submissions, tax returns, team member birthdays or anniversaries.
- Continuous improvement days/weeks – here at ProjectBox, we spend a period of time each focused purely on continuous improvement. You can read all about why we do this by clicking here!
Update Google Business Profile
Instead of being reactive as each month approaches, get a head start and update your special hours for throughout the year – these will include things like public holidays and other days where you are closed or working at reduced hours.
Clean out your inbox after the holiday period
One of the things that people hate most about coming back into the office after a period of time off is the dreaded inbox.
Devise a system on how to get control over yours. What can be actioned immediately? What requires further research before reply? What needs to be unsubscribed from? What needs to be put aside to refer back to later?
Check your task/client management platform and make sure it’s ready to go!
Often over the holiday period tasks start to accumulate as no one is there to tick them off.
So it’s time to do a clean up – look for repeating tasks that can be marked as complete, or tasks that need to be rescheduled with a new due date.
Be careful here, you don’t want to get ‘click happy’ and accidentally mark something as completed when it shouldn’t.
Re-familiarise yourself with your projects and/or clients
As hard as it is for us to wind down and ‘forget it all’ over the holiday break, getting back into the swing of things can be just as hard!
So take some time to cast your eye over your ongoing projects and clients. Is there anything you need to chase up that is outstanding from the end of the year? What do you need to prepare for that’s coming up? Who do you need to touch base with?
And that’s it! Nothing too major…. for now!
Other things you should be looking at reviewing throughout the year include:
- Password management and security review – when was the last time you changed your passwords? Who has access to what? Is everyone within the business following your business policies when it comes to security? Do you need to provide training to the team?
- Workflow and process review – HOW are you doing the things that you do?
- Your tech stack – is it still suitable for your plans for the year? How many licenses do you have? Who has access to things? (Read all about how we keep track of our tech stack here!)
