It’s Time For An End-Of-Year Professional Clean-Up
It’s Time For An End-Of-Year Professional Clean-Up
The same way you sort through your wardrobe at the end of each season, is the same way you should be having an end-of-year professional clean-up. I’m not talking about actual cleaning here, either. At the end of every year, you should be doing some essential tidying up to ensure you are primed and ready to start the new year off on the right foot.
If you took a look at my desk right now, you’d immediately spiral.
Between the old gift cards, post-its, the notepads, and millions of pens, my desk is pretty much a collector's museum for office supply hoarders….and I’m pretty sure something is growing in the back right corner.
Just kidding.
Here’s the deal. When you allow the places you spend time in your life - your home, your office or even your desk - to look chaotic, well, it’ll bleed into your life and make you feel chaotic.
Let’s get organized, friends!
Read through and update your performance journal
If you missed it, I’ve been on a performance journal promoting binge these past few weeks. That’s because so many of my clients are missing out on a very simple (yet essential) piece to keeping track of all of their professional accomplishments and opportunities throughout the year. And, if you don’t have a performance journal, you’re in the same boat!
The purpose of a performance journal is to help you:
Keep track of your goals and how you performed throughout your time in a certain role.
Help you brag about all of them later, when you need to update your resume or LinkedIn profile.
Document projects, goals, ideas, and reminders that are important to your performance.
Get your confidence back when you’re ready to leave behind any toxic or negative work environments.
The truth is that your boss won’t always notice every achievement you hit. The only person who knows when you have done something noteworthy is YOU. So, why not write it all down and showcase it later - with dates and exact KPIs - that you can update your resume and LinkedIn profile later? Plus, it’ll help you tremendously when you’re up for a promotion!
Don’t have one? I got you covered. Click here to sign up and download my FREE monthly performance journal template. (CC can you add opt-in link here to get download?)
Update your resume and LinkedIn profile
Even if you aren’t planning on a major career shift in the new year, you’ll want to update your resume and LinkedIn profile during this cleanup. This will help you showcase all of your accomplishments and any new certifications or skills you’ve obtained this year. Plus, the longer you wait to update it, the more you’ll forget something important.
Get a new professional headshot
In a world where we all have professional cameras on our cellphones, there is no excuse for using a cropped photo from your Mexico vacation with sunglasses on for your LinkedIn photo (or just a gray square because you do not have a photo up).
If you have a LinkedIn account, you should have a professional photo. There is no need to hire a professional (unless you want to, which I totally agree with. Have you seen some of my new headshots I couldn’t help posting on my Instagram?!) So grab a friend and an outfit that makes you feel good, and get to it!
A photo can make or break a recruiter or hiring manager reaching out. Cropping yourself in a friend's pic is not going to cut it these days.
Oh yeah, make sure you check out what’s in the background. You’ll want to stand in front of a wall (preferably with nothing on it) and make sure clutter or other things in your everyday life aren’t shown. Then, once the new year drops, upload your new headshot across all of your social media channels. #newyearnewyou
Clean out your email inbox (that means the junk folder, too!)
If you’re like me, you have too many email notifications to keep up with. Why bring the baggage of emails you simply have no intention of reading into the new year? Take a day - or a week depending on the size of your junk mail - to sift through all of the emails you subscribe to that just don’t bring you joy or value.
Here’s a tip: if you haven’t clicked into it in over 2 weeks, chances are you can slap the unsubscribe button without any guilt.
So whether it’s cleaning out your closet and donating old clothes or sorting through the thousands of papers on your desk that you swore you would go through time and time again, it’s important to remember that you can make your life easier by cleaning shit up.
Now, where’s my birth certificate?
Have you heard?
I sat down with Codie Elaine Oliver on my Pivot with Purpose podcast. Codie is the CEO and co-founder of Black Love, Inc., a fast-growing media company comprised of the Black Love+ app, BlackLove.com, Black Love’s social and digital platforms, and live and virtual events, including the annual Black Love Summit. We discussed the career advice she got from the queen herself, Oprah, and why it’s important to find your own mentors as you head into the new year. Mentors are KEY to guiding you to success.
Click here to listen to the episode now!
