The business owner version of "I'll just put it here for now"
Everyone has that chair.
You know the one.
It started with a sweater because you knew you'd wear it again tomorrow… then you added your bag because you were too tired to put it away… yesterday's mail got tossed on top with three Amazon boxes that just showed up, one of them still unopened because you honestly can't remember what you ordered anymore.
Nobody plans for this, it just happens!
One thing gets put there temporarily, then another, then another, until one day you realize you haven't actually sat in that chair in months.
Businesses have chairs too
They just look a little different, maybe yours is…
A desktop covered in files because you'll organize them later
A spreadsheet someone created three years ago that somehow became "the system"
Sticky notes with important reminders
Flagged emails you'll deal with when things slow down
Slack messages you sent yourself because it was faster than putting the information where it actually belongs
A notebook full of "important stuff" that nobody else can make sense of
None of those things are a problem by themselves… In fact, most of them started out as perfectly reasonable solutions.
Temporary has a funny way of becoming permanent
I get it, you were busy or frankly just didn’t wanna deal with it…so you put it somewhere you wouldn’t forget it… 😬😬😬😬
"I'll just put it here for now."
Annnnnnd "for now" has become forever.
This issue is that if we just accept that things go where they usually go, and stop asking where something SHOULD go… business can just become a chair full of crap that you haven’t seen in years.
What does this look like in business?
Nobody made a decision on purpose, stuff just went there
Nobody documented a process, because it wasn’t actually a process
Nobody sat down and said, "This is how we're going to manage this moving forward" because we haven't actually managed it yet…
It just... happened.
Now you have 3 different versions of the same spreadsheet, one person who is the only person who knows where files are saved and the answer is usually buried somewhere in your email.
Just like the chair in your bedroom, it blends into the background.
Why these "chairs" cost more than you think
Most business owners don't wake up one morning and decide to create inefficient systems, they get created naturally because you’re busy serving your clients… you’re not alone.
BUT… eventually you've built a business that depends on remembering where you left things instead of knowing where they belong.
It costs you time
It costs you money
It costs you brain power
It costs you consistency
It costs you confidence
Better systems don't happen by accident
The good news is that this isn't one of those problems that requires you to shut down your business for a week while you reorganize everything… In fact, that's probably the worst way to tackle it.
You don’t have to spend an entire day cleaning up folders, deleting old files and colour coding spreadsheets. It feels productive... for about a week and then life gets busy again and the chair comes back.
If you want to get rid of the chairs in your business, you have to stop treating them like a cleaning problem and start treating them like a systems problem.
Here are five places I'd start.
1. Start by asking why the chair exists
Nobody wakes up and decides they're going to save files on their desktop forever or create five different versions of the same spreadsheet.
It happens because something wasn't working.
Maybe the process took too long, nobody knew where something belonged, your CRM was clunky or everyone was just trying to get through a busy day.
Before you move anything, ask yourself one question: "What problem was this workaround solving?"
2. Give everything a permanent home
One of the biggest reasons businesses become chaotic is because information doesn't have one obvious place to live.
If invoices are sometimes in your accounting software, sometimes in your inbox and sometimes sitting in a download folder, people stop looking for the right place. They just start looking everywhere.
Every recurring piece of information in your business should have one home. Being organized is nice, but it’s consistency that saves you time.
When everyone knows exactly where something belongs, they stop creating their own versions of the system.
3. Make the right thing the easiest thing
Review your “processes” whether written down or not, and make sure they are simple.
If it takes ten clicks to save a document properly, people will find a shortcut.
If your project management software is harder to use than sending a Slack message, they'll send the Slack message.
The best systems make the correct option the easiest option. When you notice people creating workarounds, don't just tell them to stop, ask yourself what made the workaround more appealing than the actual process.
4. Get it out of your head
This is the chair almost every business owner has.
You know where everything is
You know which spreadsheet is the current one
You know why that client folder has a weird name
You know which process everyone is supposed to follow
The problem is... nobody else does.
You don't need to create a hundred page operations manual… start small.
Write a checklist for the tasks people ask you about every week
Record a two minute screen share the next time you explain something
Document where files belong or how projects should be named
It can be messy, it can be one document that’s not organized yet… The goal is making sure the answer exists somewhere other than your memory.
5. Build the habit of replacing chairs
Business owners are incredibly good at creating temporary solutions because that's what running a business often requires.
There's nothing wrong with creating a temporary fix, as long as it actually stays TEMPORARY!
Once a month, put thirty minutes in your calendar to look for the new chairs.
Ask yourself what people have started doing "just for now”, look for the shortcuts, pay attention to the things that make your team sigh every time they have to do them.
You don't have to solve every problem you find… just pick one. One better process this month becomes twelve better processes by the end of the year.
The reality is that every business has chairs
Nobody builds perfect systems from day one, and nobody gets it right all the time. Running a business is messy… clients need things, priorities change, and sometimes the quickest solution really is the right one. But creating temporary workarounds that become permanent can create problems FAST.
When hundreds of little decisions pile up over months or years, that's when businesses become harder to run. Before you know it, you're spending more time looking for things, answering the same questions and keeping everything together than you are actually growing the business.
The good news is that fixing it doesn't require starting over, it just requires paying attention to the places where "good enough for now" became "this is how we've always done it."
So... what's sitting in your business chair?
