2017 is fast approaching us, so I thought I’d type a quick post on a few admin type things you can do to ensure you get the admin out of the way and you can enjoy making real plans to travel, find love, grow etc.
- Change your passwords.
Security is very important given how much information we now store online. Please reset all of your passwords for the new year. I respect the password generators out there, but remembering them is not so easy. I create passwords I can remember, by setting up some rules, which for the most part are exactly what secure sites encourage you to do. Have characters, numbers, words you remember and a capital later and make sure all of that is at least 8 characters long. - Clean out your inbox.
If you’re like me and still at the office, mostly shooting the shit with colleagues, use your time more productively. Go through your email, get rid of the stuff you have not responded to. Group messages you do want to keep. Trash the stuff in your bin. Back it up. - Setup an autoresponder.
If you’re taking some leave, set up an autoresponder notifying people when you are away from, when you will actually be returning. If you will be checking your mail from time to time and who to contact in your absence. - Setup your diary.
2017 should be the year about you, so make time for the things you need to do every day. From scheduling time to meditate, go to the gym, eat lunch or even block out time in your day to focus on actually doing some work. I’d also encourage you to make some real plans to get away. Plan a holiday and put it in your diary, that will make it pretty damn real. - Tidy up your desk/desktop
You will be so much more productive if you tidy things up before you go on leave to ensure you arrive next year and be super productive in 2017. Clean your desk, throw stuff away. Print out a 2017 calendar and get rid of 2016 one, it’ll be behind you. Do the same for your computer desktop, I bet it’s filled with all sorts of random stuff you probably don;t need or have misplaced.
Hope that helps you prepare to get off to a pretty good start in 2017!