November 2022 - K.HAGGÅRD DESIGN

Ever wonder when it’s appropriate to celebrate your wins?

I say, as often as you can.

Often, we tend to just keep our heads down and work. Sometimes not even noticing that we are making progress because of it. That’s not fun, nor a positive endorsement to all that you do.

However, to know that you are making progress you first need to track it.

Make a plan of where you want to go or who you want to be. This includes figuring out the steps you need to take to get there (a great way to do that is to look at someone who is in the same/similar field as you but maybe 10 years or so ahead and watch them or better yet ask them) and then make those steps tangible and trackable.

The clearer you are on details, the better.

Then, celebrate each and every win along the way, big or small.

To make it even better, make sure to be intentional with your celebrations and set out specific times or things you want to do to celebrate, it solidifies the win even more and creates positive reinforcement to be fueled for the next step.

Here are some ways to celebrate:

Dance.

Ha, yes, it can be as silly and simple as turning on your favorite tune on loud and letting loose with your best (or not so great) dance moves. It’s great for not only a win but for movement and energy as well.

Be with loved ones.

Set aside specific time to be with friends, family and maybe even announce your win. They likely want to know and celebrate you too!

Item on your wishlist.

Perhaps, there is a certain item you would like to have, but don’t feel like it’s something you necessarily need, that could be a great item to splurge on! Plus, what a great reminder for the future!

Self-reflect.

Take some time to sit and reflect over the accomplishment. What did you do to accomplish it? How did it feel? Is there space for improvement? Are you ready for the next step?

How often do you set aside time to celebrate and what do you do?

Cheers to wins – big and small!

As a lover of organization, I’m looking for ways to optimize, e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.

Yeah… honestly it might be a bit of an obsession.

Just me?

Who else is plotting out the road and the stops that need to be done, to make sure they are completed in an order that saves the most time?

Who always has a donation box available, to remove anything extra they don’t need?

Who is looking for pieces (or clothes) that have multiple purposes and is also visually pleasing? When that something is found, do you also feel like you are winning?

Today, my friend, I’m going to give you a dose of my obsession to optimize your business. You might not need to reinvent the wheel, but we all want to run our business smoother, that I am sure of. Besides, oil keeps the tires from squeaking.

More time, less money spent – Yes, please!

I have 10 slightly random things coming your way that will follow my mantra of Simplify. Organize. Beautify.

Email templates – I can almost promise you, you write the same notes multiple times, in a week or maybe in a day. If you do, turn them into templates and organize them in a safe place for when you need them. However, always read through them and customize your note for each person you are sending them to. That creates a personalized experience.

Tools – We all have a lot of these, I’m fairly sure, but I just had to share my favorite one: Asana. I live in that application. It’s a project management tool that has all you could ever need to satisfy your organizational desires. Where you can drag and drop projects, assign due dates and task owners, see a timeline, prioritize your tasks, communicate with your team or client on each separate task to… keep organized 😉 If you have not used a tool like this, I say stop reading and check it out. You can start for free! Oh and this is not an ad, I don’t have any affiliate links or anything, it’s’ just genuinely my ride or die.

Stay up to date on security. Not as sexy, but whoa it simplifies life. Tremendously. It’s the whole thing of being proactive vs reactive. That means making sure your site is up to date, protected and backed-up before something ever happens. That means having a tool like LastPass that will keep your password secure and also help you utilize optimized passwords and (big) bonus it also simplifies (and organizes!) life at a different level. If your site or account gets hacked, you wish you had just done the basics on this one, because the alternative is not close to being fun and can get really expensive fast. Pro tip 😉 put your domain and hosting on auto pay.

Your offering. When was the last time you took a closer look at your offerings? Is everything running smoothly in your process, onboarding, during and after your projects or if it’s ongoing?We have a habit on our team to always look for opportunities to optimize. If something is taking too long with no great value – we look for ways to optimize it and use our time in a better way.

Hire a person or persons to help you. As soon as you can, hire help. I know you are skilled, but I bet you there are things in your every day that you really don’t enjoy. There are people out there who do. Hire them. More importantly hire the right people who align with company vision and values, who are working to improve their work environment and make the business run better, enjoyable and more profitable. The best employees are looking for exciting challenges, room for growth and a pleasant work environment.

Clear rules and expectations. At one point in my business life, I thought going with the flow was really nice… and it might sound nice but when you take a step back, it’s really not. It creates confusion and misunderstandings, which we don’t need anywhere and absolutely not in business. I am constantly working on defining rules and setting proper expectations which simplifies things and makes the business run much more beautifully.

Legal stuff. Certainly not fun dealing with legal stuff, if you are not prepared for it. If you have run a business long enough it’s not if, but when. Having your ducks in a row can feel like a pain in the rear but when done, just like a good workout, it feels so dang good.

Let go of clients. This may sound a bit arrogant, but it’s your business, you can let go of clients who don’t serve you well. The ones who when you see their name in the inbox, you cringe. It will either cost you money, or time. You pick which one is most valuable to you.Work is a lot of your day, I vote for enjoying it as much as possible.

Ditch tools you are not using. Are you the type of person, who signs up for the latest tool or programs….and then just lets it sit there doing no good and basically just costing you money? Cancel your subscriptions, purge unnecessary tools. Find a great multitool that can cover different tasks, and simplify.

Last but not least. Clean up your work environment. Both on the desk and the desktop! File papers properly, or better yet opt out of papers. Keep your desk in order and clean, it’s so much nicer to come to work when it’s all set up and ready for you. Same with electronic files, create a system of folders so you don’t have a desktop that is just filled with a million icons. I’m sure there are folks out there thinking it doesn’t matter…but subconsciously it does, there will be less things “pinging” at you stealing your attention and again, coming to a clean workspace is much more enticing.

Here's to simplification, organization and beautification.

Because organized and simple solutions also need to look good.

When to Celebrate Your Wins…