It’s already been a difficult year but I have Crystal’s banner hanging up in the office to remind me it could be worse!
Every new year when I return home from spending the holidays in Washington I sit down and organize both Pyrois Media and myself for the year ahead. This year, I’m getting a bit of a late start after an extended trip but got right to work as soon as I returned home Friday night.
During this process there are always a few things I realize I absolutely need going into the new year and 2021 is no different. As always, I jotted those things down to share with you in hopes that my “must haves” will help you and/or your business as we tackle the next 11 ½ months.
1) Velcro
My friend Bre Yingling posted a video with the suggestion to put Velcro on your computer to create an external hard drive holder and it may be the best idea I’ve heard so far this year. I immediately purchased some Velcro for my computer cover and put the other side of the Velcro on the hard drive I’m currently using to make a handy spot for the hard drive. It’s already made life so much easier, the hard drive now sits on the computer itself and stays put so I don’t have to worry about it.
I have quite a few of these small hard drives and am planning on attaching the Velcro to most of them. The only downside is that my bigger externals are a bit too heavy for this plan to work but as they don’t travel with me, it’s not a big deal.
2) New Notepad & Pen
I am old school and physically write down everything so I always need a clean notepad to start the year fresh. I’m very pro using every page on a notepad so I will often just tear out the earlier pages (and file them in my cabinet) to leave myself with only unused pages to start the year. This is largely ceremonial more than practical but I’ve replaced both my Notepad and pen every January for years and always find that it helps me look forward instead of back.
3) Clean Whiteboards
Different parts of my whiteboards get erased throughout the year but as you know if you use them regularly, whiteboards never truly are “clean” in that period. Every January, I always erase everything on the boards and put some extra effort into scrubbing them to kick off the year. This has the added bonus of also making the boards easier to read because the words often get smudged or fade after a while.
4) Calendars
I’m one of those people who often forgets the date I surround myself with new calendars every year. In addition to ones hanging up around the house, this year I’ve also put my The Real Rider Cup calendar right next to where my computer sits so can easily look pretty much any direction to see what day it is.
5) Quickbooks
I’m new to Quickbooks Self-Employed but so far it’s already made life easier. I spent a few hours on Saturday getting to know the program and am looking forward to having to spend less time every month going through my accounts. While I can’t give this one five stars yet because I’ve only had it for a few days, I’m thinking it’s going to be a must have in coming years as well.