Resetting for the year - or how I love a good checklist

Welcome to 2024! But wait, it’s the second week and we’ve been here already. Yes, but it always feels like the first week of January, and especially how the calendar fell this year, is really about catching up on your mailbox, calendar, and getting back to your workflow, and seriously reducing your cheese consumption from holiday levels.?

Or is that just me? ??

And time for all the “New year! New you!” articles which can either be devoured with new motivation or dreaded as overwhelm.

For me, it’s really about setting new intentions, so let’s start the first productive week of January with a few tips and recommendations:?

Mailbox Reset:

• Outlook Categories: I need detail at my fingertips for everything, so I make sure to use Categories relentlessly for emails that come in. It can tell me at a glance how I’m going to respond - is it a speaking engagement, a Board Member, or finally a response to a meeting request? Which exec does it pertain to, and which event? This is especially key when supporting more than one individual. Most of my emails have at least 2-3 categories minimum.
• Mailbox Organization: There are many ideas out there for organizing your mailbox - dump messages into folders by category, answer as they come in, snooze until later, etc. After trying what seems like all of them, what works for me is changing your settings to not make a message “read” when you select it but controlling it manually. ?? Pin and flag to top of mailbox for those items that you’re waiting on or need to follow up on, drop a message into a category folder once complete, and again categorize, categorize, categorize. I'm not an inbox-zero kinda gal, but I like it organized.

• New Year Settings: It’s also a great time to go in and check/update a few things: Refresh/renew your “My Templates” for quick email responses. Is your email signature stale? How about adding/updating a promo signature graphic promoting the latest company campaign? Does it link back to your LinkedIn profile??

Speaking of LinkedIn...

Yes, it’s time to update your LinkedIn profile: New pic, updated and streamlined profile, and a new header graphic. Drop ideas into ChatGPT to re-write your bio. Make sure your links are up to date for projects, articles, or interviews you’ve been working on in 2023.

And set a reminder to check it every quarter. Give yourself time for this task and think of February as a launch date.

Get some new perspectives

One of the big changes I made in 2023 was moving from the SF Bay Area to northern New Jersey and with winter snow hitting us in force this past week, now my treadmill is looking even more appealing. But if you’re also like me and get bored, set an intention of checking out some new EA podcast episodes.?

January EA Podcast Deep Dive: Founder & Force Multiplier Podcast

• Synergistic Remote Partnerships and the Business of Trust with Andy Culligan and Miranda Berry - Get some fresh insights into knowing your strengths, executive trust, burnout, and incorporating AI into your daily work.

Try-It List for January

• ChatGPT: If you're not already using it, pick 3 tasks and experiment with adding more and more detail to your asks. When seeing just what it can do, get creative, get weird, get detailed. You'll be surprised.
• LinkedIn: Review your profile and update
• Dive into a new EA podcast: I'll keep posting reviews and would love to know some favorites of yours.

What's on your list for January?