Your 2020 to-do list

December 31, 2019 9:09 AM

As we’ve done each January for the past several years, we’ve created a list of a dozen tasks to put on your calendar, in hopes of encouraging you to rise above the daily grind from time to time.

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January

young handsome business man engeneer in datacenter server room

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Try to do a full restore from your backup. Naturally, you’re backing everything up — but are you sure it’s working? Do a test and make sure, because you don’t want to discover that your backup is faulty during a real-life emergency.

February

Red word "SECURITY BREACH" revealed revealed in green computer machine code through a magnifying glass.

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Review your cyber insurance (assuming you have some). Check with your insurance agent to find out what, exactly, is covered by your general liability policy, and then make sure you have all the extra coverage you need to cover breaches and the like under the rules of your state.

March

Business Team Training Listening Meeting Concept

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Share some meaningful data about the firm with your staff — something you haven’t shared before. Some suggestions: How much of your annual revenue is earned during tax season? How much more does the firm make on the average tax return than last year? What percentage of clients purchase more than one service from the firm?

April

Concept of sending e-mails from your computer

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Here’s a good one to cut down on busy season interruptions: Have all staff add NNTR (for “No need to reply”) to every group email for which there really is no need for everyone to reply.

May

Hand throwing out paper

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Marie Kondo your desk. Take an hour and an empty wastebasket and go through everything on your desk and in its drawers. The question to ask isn’t, “Does it spark joy?” but rather, “Have I used this in the last six months?” If you haven’t, throw it away. You’re not really going to need that many binder clips, and all those paper files should be digitized anyway.

June

Business peoples new ideas meeting on table

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Sit down with a small group of stakeholders and describe in detail the culture you’d like your firm to have. Go beyond “We’re like a family.” Every firm is like a family. Are you the kind of family that will fire a client for being rude to an employee, or are you the kind that expects staff to serve even the most demanding clients with very high standards? Dive deep, and be specific.

July

Young woman reading a book lying in a hammock

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Read a book that’s relevant to your practice. It could be about managing staff, or value pricing, or marketing professional services, or the potential impact of blockchain or artificial intelligence, or just about anything else. And if it’s good, share it with everyone in your firm.

August

man in suit showing where the testator must sign in a last will and testament document

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Create a will for your practice. Do you know what will happen to your clients or your staff if you get hit by a bus? Macabre as it sounds, it’s worth setting up some contingency plans.

September

Mobile apps for Google, Amazon, Facebook and the Apple Store

This illustration picture taken on April 19, 2018 in Paris shows the tablet and smartphone apps for Google, Amazon, Facebook and the Apple Store. Photographer: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

LIONEL BONAVENTURE/Photographer: LIONEL BONAVENTURE

Check out some apps. Pick a couple of pain points — either yours or a client’s — then seek out and test some software solutions that solve for them. They don’t need to be huge issues; the idea is to get used to trying out technological solutions on a regular basis.

October

Work from home one day a week. This will give you a sense of how well your technology is set up to support remote workers — and will show employees that you’re serious about allowing them to work remotely, too. (If you’re not set up to support remote work, that’s your alternate task for the month.)

November

Vote. That should go without saying, but even if you’re sure your preferred candidate is going to win in your state, vote anyway.

December

Blank Calendar with Word Today and Red Marker Circle With Copy Space Isolated on White Background.

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Go through your calendar and remove every single recurring meeting — then review each one before putting it back on. You’ll find that many have outlived their purpose, and you’ll start the New Year with a lot of extra time.