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As a leader, do you ever feel like things are out of control or you don’t have your arms around anything? Is the process of solving problems like putting your fingers in a dam only for new leaks to take place. Much of this stress is usually the result of disorganization. For help in solving the “(dis)organization” problem I reached out to my friends at BELAY Solutions.
BELAY was recently ranked #1 among small companies in the 2017 Top Company Cultures List Presented by Entrepreneur and CultureIQ. Below is an article they wrote addressing the issue.
Before getting to their thoughts, BELAY Solutions wants to provide the readers of this site a FREE How To Know Who’s Ready To Take On More. Click HERE or on the image provided to receive your complimentary resource.
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The act of getting organized may seem like the bane of your existence. But failing to get – and stay – organized can make your very existence a bane.
What would it look like if time kept trickling by without you making a true, demonstrable commitment to order in your life? If what starts out as weeks of disorder turns into months of disarray and then eventually years of chaos, what experiences and opportunities are you squandering?
Here, we name just a few that should inspire a deep cleaning in your life. By the time you’re done, you might not call a housekeeper, but you may need to call a service partner like BELAY to get the support you need.
How Disorganization Affects Learning and Growth
By today’s averages, it takes more than four years to complete an undergraduate degree and about two years to finish graduate school. But even if you’re not keen on going back to school for the long haul, you don’t have to put learning on the shelf. Think of how much knowledge you can absorb and what level of growth you can accomplish in five years – you could earn a certificate online in that new technology that’s piqued your interest; you could moonlight in a role that leads to your next big idea; and you could finally get that key credential that gives you an edge. But if you’re disorganized and utterly scatterbrained, your mind won’t be able to make the mental leap for more.
How Disorganization Affects Relationships
If your schedule is chaotic, your time leaves little room for relationships. Perhaps you’re double-booked. Maybe you’re habitually running late or – on the other hand – always leaving early to get where you need to be on time. As a result, those with whom you interact feel rushed, shortchanged or disrespected. You have even less bandwidth to nurture new contacts and extend your sphere of influence. That powerbroker who was looking to fund a venture just like yours? Oh no, you left the seminar right before the group brainstorming session. The hot tech talent that wanted to join your company but went to the competition when they never heard back from you? Now they’ve badmouthed your business on Glassdoor.
How Disorganization Affects Reputation
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” If you’re a business startup, maybe you don’t have years and years of patronage from which to draw, but the premise applies equally to both emerging companies and established firms. Poor organization can prove to be the thorn in the side of a business’s brand image, internally and externally. From within, a lack of orderliness feels reactive, aimless and uncertain from the employee perspective. From the outside, disorganization equals unprofessionalism. It may manifest as unreturned messages, lost deliveries, missed deadlines, unfulfilled promises and poor customer service. Either way, the results are the same – flight and fury by ex-employees and former customers whose trust you’ll likely never regain.
How Disorganization Affects Life Itself
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average U.S. life expectancy is close to 80 years. Even with exercise and a disciplined diet, many of us will one day succumb to heart disease or cancer – the leading causes of death in the U.S. If you’re in your 30s, 40s or even 50s now, you may think you have a lot of time left to make good on the promises you’ve made to yourself or others. But the truth is that no one knows how much time they have left. James 4:14: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?”
If this blog post has you thinking twice about doing things like managing your inbox, scheduling all of your appointments, bargaining for the best deals on travel, or vetting your business books even though you have no finance or accounting experience, then give us a call.
A BELAY consultation is free and painless – and it could help you face the next five years saying, “I know where the time went” rather than “Where did the time go!?”