During the past 12 months your desk or home office has probably seen new piles of papers simply stacked everywhere. With the new year approaching, it is time to start a new tradition. Before you welcome 2014, USA Today recommends you take a moment to clear out the clutter and start afresh in the new year.

In a small business or when you’re self-employed, you gather a lot of clutter during the course of a year. When I worked by myself, all this stuff could become paralyzing. I learned I had to make sure that at least once a year — at the beginning of the year — I felt organized.

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