How much “mental litter”

is cluttering up your brain,

. . .  your business?

Overwhelmed with what my wife calls “Crapola”? (She’s a super organizer; I’m not.) Are you ready for the Litter Patrol? Do you need to schedule a Department of Corrections van full of orange or blue or yellow-suited guys with plastic bags and spiked sticks to descend on your workspace? Crawl inside your brain?

 Okay, well maybe you could do without spiked sticks in your brain, but odds are pretty good that if you’re a small business or professional practice owner or partner or manager, you’re an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are born of creative ideas and innovative pursuits. That usually translates into a trashy, cluttered workspace.

1. When did you last check your computers? Virus scan? Defragment? Clean out email files? Clean out Word files? Reorganize your record-keeping? Update your username and password list? Trash Bin everything that’s long over with and has no future app or reference value (especially pre-Bing and pre-Google historical data).

2. Kill the paperwork! Are you holding on to 10 or 20 years worth of tax records, owner manuals, documentation for old business plans, no-longer-relevant presentation materials? If these kinds of paper files (or cartons of) no longer have any real value for you, they have confusion value. Kill ’em! If some or chunks of some have value, just save those.

3. When did you last see the surface of your desk? No need to clear it off, but if you can’t organize it better (and keep it organized), you’re wasting time and energy and money. Entrepreneurs can’t afford to waste any of these, ever! Seeking negative attention? There couldn’t be a more feeble excuse. 

Is your workspace starting to look like one of those TV hoarder shows? Piles of magazines and newspapers you can’t get to? Toss ’em. The news will be the same in the next issue. You won’t miss a thing; I promise! The fewer old letters, thank you notes, sticky note reminders, children’s drawings of your dog on Santa’s lap, the better.

Photos, awards, small treasures? No problem. But all the other “crapola” (I’m starting to like that word), the more distracted becomes your brain, the more disorganized become your thoughts, the more convoluted becomes your business.

It’s hard to think OR act when you’re up to your knees (ears?) in trash. And you DO need to think AND act!

So, is this all about “letting go“? No. That’s 50%. What’s the rest? Keeping what you’ve let go of, gone! Making sure you stay on top of this physical, mental, and emotional litter problem. It does no good to make a token effort. Token efforts serve no purpose. Choose to clear your pathways and enhance your options.

Drive your imagination forward with reality. 

Open minds open doors.  

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Hal@Businessworks.US

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Is Your Vision Statement A Mission?

Does Your Mission Statement

Have Vision?

You’re getting ready for 2010 and you’re confused?

Gee, hard to imagine.

Just because the media and politicians tell us the economy is getting better? Just because we’re looking at a healthcare reform proposal that has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare? Just because enemy combatant terrorist situations surface from circumstances that we’re assured do not exist? Just because global warming hoaxsters had us running to refrigeration investments? 

     We’re probably feeling like confusion is nothing new, right? So why not live with a little more? 

     Well, here’s why: The business you own or manage doesn’t need to be as misguided and convoluted as politicians and the media. Remember they get paid for creating confusion. Your success depends on keeping things simple.

     Keeping things simple starts with attitude, awareness, and hard work.

     First off, don’t let anyone tell you to work smarter and not harder. That’s baloney! Every business success comes from hard work. Next, don’t let people confuse you about the characteristics and values of Mission and Vision Statements. [No, they are NOT the same!]

     A Mission statement is essentially a declaration of intent, challenge and pursuit. It is your goal statement that clearly and succinctly explains what you plan to accomplish over what specific period of time and by what means. It is action-focused.

     And, like every meaningful goal, your Mission Statement needs t0 be specific, flexible, realistic and have a due date. [Without all four criteria, you’ve nothing more than a wishlist fantasy!] 

     A Vision statement is a summation of where you see your business in 5-10 years. It is a picture you paint in your mind and share with others. It answers the question: If you succeed in your mission, where will you be?

     It’s a set of words that best describes what you imagine to be your future state of existence, and how you expect (hope) to be viewed by others: your employees, associates, vendors, customers, markets, industry or profession, and community. It is dream-focused. It’s primary value is to inspire pursuit of your Mission. 

What’s your Mission for 2010? What’s your Vision for 2020?

     Oh, and in the same fashion that it helps to start ANY mission with 20/20 vision, it is often most useful to put your 2020 Vision on the table (to keep focused on it) while you develop your 2010 Mission (or while you think up the ways to get where you want to end up).  

More on 2010 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

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