30: How To Explore The Magic Of Tidying Up Your Business

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I heard a lot about Marie Kondo and her decluttering tips but I never felt like digging more into her teaching until recently.

One of my friends, who recently finished tidying up her place using the KonMari method, motivated me to finally read Marie’s book.

I have always found my friend’s place neat and I haven’t seen yet how it looks like now.

It’s not what she got rid of that convinced me to purchase the book.  I was mainly curious about the thought process behind Marie Kondo’s decluttering techniques that attracted so many people to follow her method.

If my friend who is already a tidy person liked the book, I had to understand why.

I finished reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo few days ago and loved it.

I have decided to test the KonMari method to declutter my place.

I’m only on my third day but I’m already quite happy with what I have done so far.

I love Marie’s idea of decluttering a home by category rather than by location.

You handle all items that are part of the same category altogether instead of decluttering your home room by room.

One reference system

I apply a similar approach for my work. I organize my data by category.

I like to have one system as a reference or as an entry point to handle a specific category of information.

Creating one system doesn’t necessarily mean using one tool. A system can include multiple tools.

Improving your organizational skills in your business will save you time on the long run.

You will work more efficiently.

Work more efficiently with systems that help you avoid the guess work. Click To Tweet

The earlier you get use to tidying up your work environment, the less time it will take you in the future to find the data and information you need for your work.

When I work with large companies to improve their business operations and interview their team members, one pain they often mention is the difficulty to find the information they need for their work.

Some managers consider that having a powerful search tool is sufficient for their teams to run smoothly.

I disagree with relying only a search tool because when you don’t know what exists in your system you won’t search for it.

In addition to a search system, define systems that help people know about existing data without having to search for them.

If you start as an organized solopreneur, you will waste less time re-organizing your business when you grow, such as when you hire your first employee or contractor.

Here are few examples of simple systems you can apply now to be more organized, even if you are getting started with your business.

A system for your meetings

Do you have a reference system to remember your meetings and appointments?

My reference system to handle my meetings is my Apple calendar as I use a MacBook. That calendar app is my source of trust and it also synchronizes with my calendar on my iPhone.

I also use Google calendar but I synchronize it with my apple calendar too, to make sure that all meetings can be retrieved from a single application.

My system also includes a planner as I like to write things down on paper.

However, the events that are scheduled in my agenda, are also in my online calendar.

The planner lists only the most important events. It’s a different way for me to view what I schedule all year long. I also avoid looking at a screen at night time before going to bed.

Pick one calendar that will be your source of trust for your meetings. Click To Tweet

Decluttering your mind

I have been using Evernote since 2009 as my reference system to save my notes and ideas for both my work and personal life.

You often hear me saying that I use my pen and paper to write down my notes, which is the case but I also add them to Evernote when I want to keep them for later use.

Several years ago, when Phil Libin was still CEO of Evernote, I saw him presenting his company vision at a conference in the Silicon Valley and I became of fan of Evernote since then. I also became an Evernote Certified Consultant.

Evernote acts like a second brain as I dump everything there to free up my mind.

Declutter your mind with Evernote.Click To Tweet

Small business backup

You can’t rely only on your laptop to save your company asset.
Manage your data with peace of mind using backup solutions.

I use iDrive as a cloud backup service provider.

If you don’t feel comfortable with online services, make sure that you have a least a disk to regularly backup your business data.

And the same way that big companies protect their assets at different locations, keep another backup disk somewhere else, such as at your parents or siblings’ home.

Backup regularly your business data.Click To Tweet

Action item for this week

Look at what you could organize better in your business to work more efficiently.

Start simple so that you don’t procrastinate.

Soon, those tiny habits will help you become an organized business owner.

Show Notes

• Book: The life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo
• Download Evernote for free
• Cloud Backup: iDrive
• Connect with Thuy on Facebook
• Follow Thuy on Twitter

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