Time to Get Organized for the Busy Season

By Sharon • November 2nd, 2009

With the Holiday season upon us now is the time to ensure your business is organized and set not just for the busy and fun weeks ahead but for the serious season beginning January 1st.

Nothing allows you to enjoy the Holiday season more than knowing that you’ve got your strategies and activities planned and ready to implement.

That’s possible only if you do the actual research planning and today’s post is about one special took that so many of us rely on successfully to get things done – the daily planner.

In fact, right now is the perfect time to order your 2010 planner if you haven’t already done so. Currently my well worn 2009 planner is filling up with notes and references for meetings in 2010. Those notes bulging my planner serve as a big red flag reminding me to get that 2010 calendar now.

As a business owner you likely have many priorities. But of course everything can’t have the same priority. You can only do one thing at a time but by at least doing one thing (as opposed to thinking about it with dread) you’ll get the control you strive, one completed project at a time.

Using a daily planner will help you to break your work down into chunks, hour by hour, day by day. What a planner can help you do is tend to the details and the big picture as well. For example, it’s not good to be chipping away at something for 5 hours, when in reality you only have a 2 hour slot to work on an activity because of other deadlines that day.

Use your daily planner to keep you on track. I love the week at a glance, spread over two pages with with a reduced snap shot of 3-months of full calendars. That way when I open my planner I get a quick visual of the week ahead – what’s due, who do I have to meet, how much longer until Thanksgiving, etc.

I’ve done some research and just come across the At-A-Glance QuickNotes daily/weekly/monthly planners. I think this particular product may be ideal for multitasking business owners. What I especially like about this planner is that it is made by an industry leader (the Mead/Day-Runner journal producers) and that it has the unique and nifty QuickNotes feature which allows to you track a running list (for me it would be my task list) on a colored area of your “week at a glance” page and also at the beginning section of each month.

The use of colored paper for the list or “Quicknotes” looks like it will be really helpful. I’ve included the link below so you can look a little further into this product for yourself.

Planning and implementing small projects is what helps me to build momentum in my business. With all the activity taking place during this Holiday season it will be easy to feel overwhelmed and even get side tracked from the marketing strategy already planned. Ensuring that I have the simple tools to support me is an easy way to keep on track.