When was the last time you sat down and reviewed how your business was going? If you don’t have a business, what about your career? Or your studies? How often have you stopped to assess the current situation you are in, and whether you are achieving your goals?

Well, most people never bother to do this. It is one of those tasks that sounds like a good idea, but is inevitably ignored or forgotten. This happens as a result of misunderstanding what actually needs doing in this process, or thinking that it is too much effort for little return on the time invested.

A simple review of your current situation need not take long. In fact, within an hour or two you could be done. And the whole reason for spending the time to analyze what your performance currently is means that you can see the areas that you need improving on, and begin working on them right away.

For example – You spend 2 hours to assess your business income streams. You compare the results to what you have set as your goal, and you see what areas are failing in comparison to that goal. You know it’s not the effort you put in, but you can see that your education or resources need improving if you plan on achieving the goal you have set yourself. Now, having reviewed your performance, you can take action to change the current situation to the vision you have set yourself.

In the coming fortnight, try and spend some time to assess your situation with respect to your business/career/studies, and your family. Write down all the things that you perceive are working well, and those areas that need improving. It might be your time management, it might be that your education on a topic needs revising, or it might be that there are too many distractions in your life stopping you achieving your goals.

Whatever the outcome, firstly congratulate yourself on taking action to stop getting what you have, and start working to getting what you want. If your review shows that you need to spend $300 on educational resources, or an extra 23 hours on study, then set a plan on how you will incorporate this into your daily routine.

This simple yet powerful approach to checking your performance against your goals will help to keep you on track with your vision, and help keep a balance on your life, to allow for time to develop relationships with family and friends.

‘Back-’end’, ‘Filing’, and ‘Paperwork’ all refer to the part of a business that is often left unchecked. These terms refer to the bills, receipts, paperwork, and invoicing that will flood your desk as a result of running a successful business.

These aspects of your business represent a few important things. Firstly, that you are doing business. You wouldn’t have these receipt and letters to file if you weren’t. Well done!

Secondly, they are a record of how much you have spent on your business, and how much you are owed. Most of us would happily remember how much we are owed, and try to ignore how much we have spent. This approach can cause you to miss out on some great tax benefits when it comes to doing your tax returns.

Thirdly, every business has the same challenge. They have to pay someone or set aside time themselves to handle the receipts, invoices and so on. The good news is that there are a number of ways that you can deal effectively with this part of your business without it costing too much, or even anything at all.

Over the next fortnight, at the end of each day place your receipts next to your computer or filing cabinet – somewhere where you will be able to find them and record them in a ledger. Make sure you keep your private and business receipts separate.

Next, if you haven’t already, source a solution to help you keep track of these receipts. You can choose to use software such as Quicken or MYOB, or you can simply use a spreadsheet. Either way, record your expenses, including the date, amount and what category it was for (stationary, postage, etc).

Spend 15 minutes each day filing these receipts. Don’t spend any more time than this unless you have to. Simply take the data from the receipt, enter it into your electronic (or hard copy) ledger, and then put the receipt in a file for storage.

Take some of these steps to begin organising your paperwork and receipts, freeing you up to get on with the tasks of growing your business.