Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1417136
18 m a s s a g e & b o d y wo r k n ove m b e r/d e ce m b e r 2 0 2 1 best practices | BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS End Well and Begin Again By Allissa Haines and Michael Reynolds To reflect on last year and consider changes for this upcoming year, I find it helpful to separate my thinking into the three areas of my business: the physical, the mental, and the financial. January 1 is an arbitrary date. We could easily be decisive, make a change, and create a fresh start any day we choose. That said, there is a certain magic in creating new goals at the beginning of the year—on a crisp, clean calendar page. There is a special feeling of newness when I put my hands on the first client of a new year. I like to embrace that newness, but I also know there will be no magical renewal or positive change unless I plan well in advance. So, each year— in the late fall before the holidays hit hard—I try to spend a little time reflecting on the last year and considering changes for the coming new year. To do this, I find it helpful to separate my thinking into the three areas of my business: the physical, the mental, and the financial. Then, I can clean up each space in a way that keeps me motivated and energized. PHYSICAL SPACE Completing a physical task with tangible, visible results can be really motivating, so I like to start with cleaning or organizing an area of my office. Even when stuff is closed away in a drawer or a cabinet, unconsciously and subconsciously you know it is there. If it is still taking up space in your drawer, it is taking up space in your brain. Cleaning the spaces you use frequently can feel refreshing and motivating, but I am not suggesting you do a major renewal project of your whole space. Instead, resist the urge to make this a multiday project, and instead plan a project you can accomplish in a few hours or less. Pick one area—one well-defined task that has a beginning and an end. It could be deep cleaning your massage room or office bathroom. Or you could clean out and purge the storage closet that's gotten out of hand. Sometimes, I pick an item—for example, papers. I will clean out all the papers that have accumulated in various drawers and surfaces. I go through the whole space and make a big pile of books, magazines, forms, receipts—anything paper. I recycle or donate any magazines and books I no longer use, and then I scan PIXABAY/UNSPL ASH.COM