At the beginning of a new year, we often ask ourselves, “What things helped me grow?” or “Do I need to set new goals?” Sometimes, real growth comes from quitting old habits and practices that hold you back. This year, it’s time to break free from those patterns and start by saying “so long” to unproductive tasks.
Why quitting bad habits matters
When it comes to achieving growth (personally or professionally), cutting out the noise is just as important as focusing on new goals. In fact, research says that either good or bad habits shape up to 40% of our daily actions. We do them unconsciously since they have already become a daily routine.
Dropping just one habit could free up energy and resources for better opportunities. Breaking the cycle of bad habits can lead you to a more productive and fulfilled day.
Seven things to quit doing in the new year when it comes to your business
To have a more productive and stress-free year ahead, here’s a list of things you should consider quitting in the year ahead:
1. Spending hours on social media marketing
A lot of small businesses benefit from marketing on social media, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend all of your effort on it. To help you gain more results from your social media, you can tap into social media marketing experts to craft a social media ad campaign tailored to your target market. You should also consider other marketing efforts like pay-per-click or email marketing to diversify your reach.
2. Manually backing up your computers
If you’re still manually transferring data to external hard drives, it’s time to switch to a cloud storage solution that backs up your data. Ensure your cloud storage provider guarantees your data’s security and that you can easily restore lost files so a problem with your website or computer crash doesn’t put your business on hold.
3. Managing website security alone
Website security is a necessity. Security is too important to be entrusted to someone who isn’t updated on the latest security trends and tools. Given how busy most entrepreneurs are, you probably fall into that category. If you don’t have an in-house IT expert to help you with your website security, find a reliable company that provides top-notch website security tools to keep you and your customers at ease.
4. Doing administrative tasks
Every day might be grueling at work, with scheduling appointments, updating your calendar, responding to emails, and making travel arrangements. Doing these administrative things all at once can cause a bad headache and take up a lot of your time. To ease the load, save your energy for business-building activities, outsource the admin work to a virtual assistant, or look for a reliable online provider that can help you ease the load. Check out Web.com’s online appointment scheduling, which allows unlimited scheduling, online payment collection, and personalized confirmation and reminders.
5. Struggling with SEO
Search engine optimization is essential in driving traffic to your site. However, it can be challenging if you’re not an SEO expert. Instead, let the SEO experts take over so you can focus on what you do best: growing your business.
6. Procrastinating
Do you usually put off tasks for “later” and then somehow never get to them? Procrastination is a productivity killer, especially when it comes to tasks you’re dreading. To break your procrastination habit, try scheduling tasks you don’t want to do for the first activity of your day. Once you start, you might find the activity isn’t as bad as you made it out to be. Once it’s out of the way, the rest of your day will seem easy in comparison.
7. Manually updating your online business listings
If your business is listed on several online directories, manually updating them every time there’s a change can be very time-consuming and leave a lot of room for error. Remember that your business’s online search directory listings need to be accurate. To focus more on growing your business, offload this task to a service that will not only update online business listings for you, but also optimizes them for search.
By eliminating these seven timewasters from your day in 2024, you can look forward to a more productive and profitable 2025!
How to break bad habits
Are you ready to let go of these bad habits? Here are some practical steps you can do to start making lasting changes:
Identify pain points
You can start identifying the paint points by asking yourself the following questions:
- What is draining my time?
- What do I do most of the day?
- What hinders my productivity?
Taking a step back to assess what’s draining your time and energy can help you refine your strategy for breaking bad habits.
Use tools to track inefficiencies
You can use project management tools like Trello or Asana to manage your work efficiently and quickly spot patterns where time is wasted. These tools help you break your work into smaller pieces with clear owners and due dates, manage client workflow seamlessly, and efficiently label tasks by priority and sort them into custom sections.
Adopt the “stop, start, continue” framework
Is your work making you feel stressed or suffocated? Adopt the “stop, start, and continue” framework to help you maximize your time at work. Reflect on what you need to stop doing, what things to start focusing on, and continue what’s already working well. This strategy will simplify your decision-making process and help you prioritize tasks effectively.
Make accountability a habit
Share your goals with a colleague or a mentor who can help you keep on track. Allowing your most trusted people to help you and having regular check-ins from them can help reinforce your new habits.
Invest in the right tools
To help you streamline your processes, you need the right tools and reliable providers to help your business grow. Web.com’s products and services for web hosting, website builders, domain purchase, and domain transfer will assist you in building your business’s online presence and brand credibility.
Time to let go of the bad habits and make room for growth
Change doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Sometimes, the easiest way to move forward is to let go of something that isn’t working. Additionally, change doesn’t happen in one whole day. It’s a process you need to undergo over time until you unlearn how to do them. By quitting these bad habits and adopting more innovative ways to manage your business effectively, you’ll find yourself with more time, energy, and focus to achieve your goals.
Make room for growth and make 2025 a productive year! Explore Web.com’s products and services to help you manage your processes and grow your business.
