Recharge and Reset for 2024

It’s January. Last year is still visible in the rear view mirror but the road ahead is 2024. I talked a lot about looking back on 2023 last month. December is always a good time to reflect on the past 12 months and it’s important to stop and remember the wins and the lessons learned from the last year.

But now it’s January. I don’t know about you but when January finally rolls around, I’m exhausted! The holiday pet sitting rush is nearly over and many of you are looking forward to a blissfully quiet end to January. Things slow down this month for a lot of us and that means it’s a good month to do some organizing, planning, and goal setting so I’m coming at you today with a few things you can do to get 2024 started right.

You’ll read a lot of advice about starting strong in the new year, getting things off to a good start and that’s all good advice but before we do that the first thing you should do, before you do anything else, is stop and take a breath. You’ve just finished the busiest two months for pet sitting businesses. You’ve dealt with last minute booking requests, holiday traffic with shoppers jamming the roads, cold weather leading to stalled cars and icy roads, anxious pets and even more anxious pet parents. clients getting irritated because you couldn’t accommodate their December 23 requests, sitters calling in sick, rushing from one visit to another with no time to eat and little time to sleep, and holiday dinners with your family cut short so you could squeeze in one more visit. You deserve a breath. Take a break. Pat yourself on the back for surviving the chaos. Go see a movie, order the extra-large popcorn and don’t share it with anyone. Lock the bathroom door and take a nice long hot soak. Spend a few hours with your own furry family member. Pick whatever makes you whole but do something. You need to recharge before you resume.

Okay, once you’ve recharged a bit the next thing you should do is take a couple of hours or a couple of days to clean your physical space. By this I mean clean your desk and the area around it. Chances are, even if you’re generally a tidy person, it looks a bit like a tornado tore through it. Go through and file that stack of papers that you’ve been meaning to file, take a few minutes to remember that sticky notes are not a good planning system so take some time to transfer those sticky notes to something more permanent, reorder and refill if needed your office supplies, empty the trash can, empty those crumbs out of your keyboard and clean your computer screen, and finally, now that you can actually see the top of your desk get a dust rag out and give it a good wipe. I live in the country and there are always spiders in the house and I’ll tell you the last time I did this there were literally cobwebs in the corners of my workspace.

Once your physical space is done, move onto your electronic space. I know this can be daunting if you don’t do this regularly but clean out your email inbox. And as a bonus, because you’ve now wiped the thick layer of dust off your computer screen, you’ll be able to see them clearly. You can start by deleting anything that is more than 3 months old. Believe me, if you haven’t answered these old emails yet, you’re not going to and if they’re important, they’ll get back to you. Once you’ve cleared the ancient backlog, focus on the most recent months. Most of them, you’ll be able to open and deal with quickly but for those that require more thought or time, drop them into an electronic folder to work on later. Once you’ve cleared your inbox, take a look at your computer desktop. How many icons do you have? Can you even see the background picture on your screen saver through all of your desktop icons? Take a few minutes to electronically file all but the ones you use everyday in the right folders. And while you’re at it, pick a nice new picture to display on your screen or maybe a quote that speaks to you.

And finally, when your physical and electronic space is looking spiffy take some time to do some mental housekeeping. Think about what thoughts have been holding you back. Do you regularly tell yourself you screwed up. Do you feel like an imposter and wonder why anyone trusts you run a successful business. Do you assume that if something goes wrong, it’s your fault. Do you berate yourself because your business isn’t as big or as far along as another business. Do you routinely call yourself careless, forgetful, lazy, idiot, stupid, or worse inside your head or even out loud. Take as long as you need to think through your internal dialog, focus on each unkind and unfair things you say to yourself and then gently release them. Anything that you wouldn’t say to a friend, you shouldn’t say to yourself. They don’t serve you. Brush those limiting beliefs up with a proverbial broom and chuck them in the garbage.

When you’re finished with the housecleaning go get that brand new planner, notebook, calendar, or legal pad (or the sparkly new office supply of your choice) and set it on your nice shiny clean desk.

This only takes a little time but it makes all the difference. You are an entrepreneur and you’ve overcome so many challenges. You’ve got a year ahead of you full of possibilities and new challenges and I know you’ve got this! Now get to work!

 Another great article you might enjoy

What are your business traditions? https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/what-are-your-business-traditions/

About Eliza

Eliza is an experienced pet business owner with a specialty in pet sitting and dog walking businesses. As The Pet Business Coach, she offers coaching and resources to aspiring or current petpreneurs. She maintains an awesome blog for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/ and a practical podcast to help pet business owners excel and drive their business forward. Eliza and her husband live in the Appalachian Mountains with their furry and feathery family including cats, goats, and chickens. Visit her website at www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.