Scrap These Things in 2016

By Wesley Middleton

As the New Year approaches, we are all looking at those News Years resolutions for all of those things we are going to start doing in 2016. Along with looking at the things I need to start doing, I pay just as much attention to those things I should stop doing. Here a few things to throw on that scrap heap in 2016.

1. The email clutter.
2. Some of the advice.
3. Your partner.
4. Paper.
5. Clients.
6. Negative noise.

Here's what I mean by that...

Laura MoralesHigh Energy Motivational Networking Speaker | Business Networking Trainer | Communications CoachGreat advice AND reminders.

1. The email clutter. Take a few hours and go through your email and unsubscribe to all of those emails that don't add value to your day. They just create clutter and distraction. You will be surprised at how much better your day will be when you start with less in the inbox. 
2. Some of the advice. When is the last time you examined the source of your self development or leadership emails or blogs? Throughout the year I will follow people or organizations that I have gleamed something useful from. Before the end of the year I intentionally cull that list. I have found that there are some that we may have surpassed in our organization and that the once useful advice is now dated and has not been updated. Scrap it. 
3. Your partner. No, not your spouse. Your business partner or employer. While this won't be that year for me, it has happened in the past so I bring it up this year. Is your organization moving forward? Do your feet hit the floor every day ready to go to the office? Sometimes business partnerships just don't work out and we let a situation that will never work out continue. This could be the year that you bite the bullet and move on. Life is too short, you should love where you work. 
4. Paper. Trash it. Shred it. Throw it in the recycle bin. All of those old magazines, publications and stuff you've accumulated. Get rid of it! Most of it is probably online anyway, make some space. Are you still accumulating paper files in your office? Digitize those files and get them in the cloud. 
5. Clients. The bottom 5% need to go. There are a few ways to do that, the easiest way for us has been to raise prices on those clients. Studies have shown that doing this makes your company leaner and more profitable. 
6. Negative noise. We all have it. People that only see everything that is wrong and find the worst in everything. Turn it off. If it doesn't bring you happiness and joy, walk away. This isn't to say we want yes men or women around us, not at all. Show me the problem AND the solution. Not just the problems.

New Years resolutions are more than just things to start doing. Look around you, there are things to stop doing. So stop it! Life will be better because of it.

Wesley Middleton is the managing partner at MRZ LLP, a Houston, Texas-based accounting firm voted Best Place to Work by the Houston Business Journal. Wesley is the author of Violent Leadership (Forbes Books, 2017) and is represented by PumpJack Speakers Bureau. To book Wesley for your event, email Wesley.Middleton@PumpJack.me or click here.