Whip your office into shape – Personal Training Business Tips
Confession time. I’m a bit of a grub. I’m one of those people who love to cook, but somehow end up with half the ingredients covering one end of the kitchen to the other.
Over the years, my office has at times bared a similar resemblance, with post-it notes stuck to coloured pens, sticky tape clinging to the calculator and an i-pod cable draped across a corner of the Mac screen anxiously awaiting its next plug in.
Despite my good intentions, I do have to make a conscious effort to have a ‘mini office overhaul’ every so often and do a quick tidy up to get things looking schmick and back to a happy place where my life is organized and my headspace is clear.
Now I know I’m not alone, and I know how great it feels when you have a clean workspace, plus lets face it, even personal trainers need to do paperwork every now and then. So I thought I would share with you a few tips I’ve found helpful for keeping things in a order both in your physical environment and your online space.
Here are my Top 6:
- Recycle / shred any unwanted lose paper you have lying around (that you don’t need to keep for Tax purposes!). This includes old quotes, forms, flyers, catalogues.
- De-clutter your desk from stationary by investing in storage boxes of various sizes.
- Open your paper mail next to the rubbish bin. Straight away throw out or recycle the envelope and any pieces of paperwork you don’t need.
- Before you finish work for the day, give your desk a tidy. Put away papers, and put calculators and pens back in the draw. Its refreshing to arrive to a clear desk the next day.
- Online – Use the Rules function in Outlook to automatically re-route and file emails by subject so they don’t clog up your inbox and appear overwhelming.
- Online – The most important email rule of all, use the ‘Four D’s for decision making’ Delete it, Do it, Delegate it, or Defer it.
I hope these simple steps give you a little motivation for a quick tidy up. Do it frequently and you’ll find it won’t be a huge task, plus it will free up your time to do more of what you love.
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.