3 Tips to Take You From Scatterbrained to Systematic

3 Tips to Take You From Scatterbrained to Systematic

At the heart of great performance comes systems. To be successful, you must have systems that you follow every day to keep your business on task. If you’re scatterbrained with a lack of focus or idea for how you’ll perform regular tasks, you’re lost. On the flipside, if you’re systematic about your approach, you’ll feel more organized and therefore, more efficient. Here are three tips to help you move from scatterbrained to systematic.

1. Clear the Clutter

When you’re surrounded by clutter, it’s only natural for your mind to feel cluttered too. Before you can make a conscious shift away from being scatterbrained and create a new habit of being intentional about your business systems, you need to clear the clutter.

Clutter is everywhere in business. It’s on your desk. How many papers do you have sitting next to you right now? It’s in your inbox. How many messages do you have waiting for a response right now? It’s even in your car. How much trash do you have in your car surrounding you to and from the office every day?

By clearing away the physical and digital clutter around you, you make room for clarity and simplicity, which is the first step toward becoming more systemic in your work life.

2. Come Up With a Communications Plan

Communications are critical when it comes to doing business. You have to communicate with your higher ups. You have to communicate with your team. And, most importantly, you have to communicate with your customers. Without a plan for how to manage all of those important communications, you’re sure to let important messages fall through the cracks.

Instead of trying to juggle who you need to follow up with and when, create a system for reaching out to people. This could mean setting aside an hour a day to follow up with a certain group of people. It might mean making a physical list to hang in your office of people you must check in with on a regular basis. No matter what it looks like for you, having a systematic approach for communications keeps you on task and connected, freeing your mental space up to do more.

3. Set Yourself Up For Success With the Right Platforms

Even the most well-intentioned people will fail without the support of the right platform keeping them on task. Having the right productivity tools at your disposal to track everything that’s happening in your business is essential. For example, having a scheduling app can help you systematize an otherwise scattered task. Having a project management tool can help you connect teams and create systems for workflows, keeping everyone on task and organized.

When looking for the right platforms for your business, consider first your goals. Then, look deeper and consider the features you need out of a tool. For example, you might decide that you need to access your lists and systems from anywhere, anytime, making it imperative that the platform you choose has a mobile app as a feature.

With your list of must-haves in mind, start researching options and testing them out. Soon, you’ll find the ones that’ll put you in a consistently organized workflow.

What Can You Systematize?

As you get going, you’ll find it almost addictive to find tasks to systematize. Creating a system for every aspect of your work life will reduce your anxiety and help you achieve a better balance overall. What tasks are you looking at systematizing?

Author Profile Jon Forknell is the Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions, Inc., a software marketing company specializing in employee scheduling software, including ScheduleBase employee scheduling software, and other business software solutions. In the past, Jon has been recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Atlas Business Solutions was named as one of Software Magazine’s Top 500 Software Companies in 2004 through 2007 and again in 2010, 2013 and 2014.