7 Ways to Declutter Your Business and Boost Productivity

As a business owner, you want to do it all. You want to know every aspect of what is going on in your company, from the cleaning rota all the way to your next meeting. However, knowing too much means that you can feel overwhelmed. It clutters your company with issues that can affect your productivity and the productivity of everyone around you. This can have disastrous effects on creativity and concentration and could lead to severe burnout. 

You don’t want to burnout, though. You want to smash your business goals and still have time to do everything you want to do outside of the office. The only way to do this, however, is to undertake a decluttering project from the top to the very bottom of your company. 

Your Head 

Entrepreneurs expect to have a lot going on in their heads 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, while this is considered normal, and almost a badge of entrepreneurial honor by the folks that populate your LinkedIn page, a cluttered head is not beneficial at all. 

Being too scatterbrained and overwhelmed by what you have to do means you could miss important deadlines. You won’t be focused on the right tasks and projects, and your creativity will suffer. As a leader, you cannot afford for this to happen, so you must prioritize your demands with mind mapping to work out which issues are the most pressing. 

Your Schedule

A calendar is supposed to ensure you don’t miss a single appointment, so how can it contribute to business clutter? If you find it hard to delete past meetings, then this could be why you find yourself overwhelmed every time you look at it. 

These records only serve as a distraction, and they can make it difficult to find more critical information within your calendar and schedule. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long to fix this. Take an afternoon or evening to go through your work calendar and delete old and useless notifications. Immediately, you’ll feel more relaxed, and this enables you to be more productive. 

Your Office

From small offices to large ones that take up entire floors, you may find that clutter grows in abundance the more staff you employ. This doesn’t just make the area look unprofessional, but it will also hinder staff concentration, as they are always distracted by the mess. 

You can overcome this by investing in industrial sheds and storage solutions for old and unused equipment. If you want to take it a step further, downsize your office and embrace the benefits of remote working. Fewer people means less mess, and this will have a direct effect on productivity across the board, both for staff in the office and at home. 

Your Strategies

Marketing strategies are crucial for any business, but it can be challenging to find the sweet spot that guarantees success and an increase in brand awareness. What’s possible is that your business is trying to do too much, and this gives your marketing strategy and unfocused and cluttered appearance. 

Digital marketing is the best way for a business to spread the word and reach new customers. However, old funnels and archaic email opt-in services are not the way forward. These tactics will only make your business look outdated, so it’s worth giving your business an audit to refresh your marketing aims, update social media pages, and take advantage of the shifts in the industry. 

Your Expenses

It’s tempting to make an excuse for business expenses as often as you can pull it off. However, this forces you into bad habits that will only affect the future of your company, and could also land you in hot water with investors and accountants. 

Getting out of these habits is essential, even if you need to work with a financial planner to help you. Likewise, there’s also the chance you are paying for services you don’t use, especially email subscriptions. While they are never too expensive, too many ghost subs will add up, so get rid of them and experience an immediate change in your company’s financial health. 

Your Inbox

Like your schedule, you likely have thousands of read, unread, or unanswered emails. While some people cannot bear to look at even one unread notification, some have no qualms about allowing that little red bubble to tick up and up and up. 

But, this bubble can wreak havoc on organization and productivity. As you get used to seeing it there, you won’t notice when a new email comes through, and this means you may miss essential correspondence, job offers, or meeting requests. You should also make sure to respond to emails quickly so you don’t forget about them, while you can use search bar codes to access older emails for easy deletion. 

Your Network

Networking is essential for boosting opportunities and allowing you to meet other people in your industry that could offer you a chance at greater success. However, too many people in your network can become overwhelming, especially as, unfortunately, many ‘low value’ connections don’t benefit you. 

It sounds cruel to say, but if you are someone who finds themself with a lot of hangers-on who only take rather than provide, you can justify cutting them loose. This will keep your network more productive and save you from wasting time reading and responding to cold queries that end up being insignificant. 

Take a look at your LinkedIn profile as well as other social media profiles and leave or delete connections or groups that you realize you do not access or browse frequently. Not only will this clear up your list, but it will also ensure your feed is not cluttered up with useless ponderings and self-congratulatory posts. 

Your Productivity

Whether your decluttering takes a few hours or a few months, you will find that you and your team have more time to do the important things. Almost immediately, the air feels fresher, the days shorter, and everyone around you has a smile on your face. This positivity and productivity will reflect across the board for your company and shine through onto your clients, which will give you the boost you need to maintain your success without burning out.