Millions of Canadians are doing Dry January right now.
They’re cutting out that one thing they know isn’t helping them — so they can feel better, sleep better, and finally stop pretending that “I’ll start Monday” is a plan.
Your business has its own version of Dry January.
Except instead of cutting cocktails, it’s time to cut some tech habits that have quietly been holding your company back for years.
We’re talking about the stuff everyone knows isn’t ideal —
but nobody wants to deal with right now because… “we’re busy.”
Until you’re not busy — you’re down.
Here are six tech habits your Cowichan Valley business should quit cold turkey — and what to do instead.
❌ Habit #1: Clicking “Remind Me Later” on Updates
That little button?
It’s done more damage to small businesses than most hackers ever could.
Updates don’t just add new features — they patch security holes that criminals are actively using right now.
"Remind me later" turns into weeks.
Weeks turn into months.
And suddenly your system is wide open and unprotected.
Real Talk: WannaCry ransomware crippled 200,000+ businesses in 150 countries. How?
Microsoft had already released the patch. The victims just hadn’t installed it yet.
🛠 Quit it: Let your IT partner schedule updates after hours or push them in the background. No more surprise reboots at 3 PM. No more open doors for cybercriminals.
❌ Habit #2: Reusing One “Strong” Password Everywhere
You’ve got that one password.
It checks all the boxes. It’s got numbers! A symbol! Maybe even a capital letter.
You use it for everything — your email, bank, Shopify, even that webinar you signed up for two years ago.
Here’s the problem:
If any one of those sites gets breached (and they do, constantly), your credentials are floating around on the dark web — being sold to bots that will try that same password everywhere.
This is called credential stuffing, and it's responsible for millions of account breaches every year.
🛠 Quit it: Use a password manager like Keeper, LastPass, or Bitwarden. You remember one password — it remembers the rest. Simple. Secure. Done.
❌ Habit #3: Sharing Passwords Over Email, Text, or Slack
"Hey, can you send me the login for that thing?"
"Sure — it's admin@company.com, Password2024!"
Boom. Instant access.
And also… permanent exposure.
That message now lives in your inbox. Their inbox. Their cloud backups.
If anyone’s email gets hacked? Your credentials are a keyword search away.
🛠 Quit it: Use your password manager's secure sharing feature. They get access — not the password. No more floating login info. No more risky shortcuts.
❌ Habit #4: Making Everyone an Admin “Just in Case
Someone needed to install a program. So you made them an admin.
Then it happened again. And again.
Now half your staff has admin rights — because it was easier than doing it properly.
Except…
Admin rights = unlimited power.
Unlimited power = unlimited risk.
If they get phished? The hacker now has admin access to everything.
🛠 Quit it: Follow the Principle of Least Privilege — give people access to what they need, nothing more. It takes 5 extra minutes. It could save you thousands.
❌ Habit #5: “Temporary” Fixes That Became Permanent
You had a tech issue back in 2019. You found a workaround.
You meant to fix it. You really did.
Now that janky workaround is just… how things are done.
Sure, it’s clunky. Sure, it wastes time.
But hey — it works. Until it doesn’t.
🛠 Quit it: Make a list of every “workaround” your team uses. Don’t fix them yourself. That’s what we’re for. We’ll simplify, streamline, and give you hours back every week.
❌ Habit #6: The Spreadsheet That Runs the Whole Dang Business
You know the one.
12 tabs. 47 formulas. The color-coded cells. The person who built it left 18 months ago and now it’s a sacred relic nobody dares to touch.
Spreadsheets are awesome — until they’re holding your entire company together with duct tape.
If it gets corrupted or deleted?
You’re toast.
🛠 Quit it: Document what the spreadsheet does — then migrate to a proper tool. CRM, inventory, scheduling — whatever it is, there’s software for that. And it has backups, access controls, and none of the fragility.
Why These Habits Stick Around So Long
You already know these aren’t ideal.
The issue isn’t information — it’s bandwidth.
These habits linger because:
- The consequences are invisible… until they aren’t.
- The “right way” feels slower… until something breaks.
- Everyone else does it too… so it feels normal.
That’s what Dry January does — it interrupts autopilot.
It forces you to ask: “Why am I still doing this?”
How to Actually Break These Habits (Without Relying on Willpower)
Willpower fades. Systems don’t.
The businesses that actually fix these things?
They don’t “try harder.”
They change the environment.
- Password manager becomes company standard.
- Updates run automatically — no buttons to click.
- Admin permissions are controlled by policy, not panic.
- Workarounds get eliminated, not enshrined.
- Spreadsheets get replaced with real tools that grow with you.
This isn’t about judgment.
It’s about making the good habit easier than the bad one.
That’s what we do.
We don’t wag fingers. We build systems that work without you thinking about them.
Ready to Ditch the Bad Tech Habits?
Let’s do a Bad Habit Audit.
It’s 15 minutes. No sales pitch. No jargon.
We’ll look at what’s slowing you down, where the risks are hiding, and how to make your business faster, safer, and less annoying to run in 2026.
Schedule your 15-minute discovery call here
Because some habits are worth quitting cold turkey.
And January’s a pretty good time to start.
