Written by Marissa

2022 tax season crunch is a wrap so it’s a great time to reflect and set strategies for next April while everything is fresh in your mind. If stress for you – personally or for your team – careened out-of-hand last month, we’ve got just the list for you.

Here are a *few tips for managing the stress of firm life:

1. Master “no.” Maybe you’re already a master of professional boundary-setting... or maybe you’re like most of us and don’t say “no” nearly enough. Whether this means cutting ties overly demanding clients or declining a coworker’s weekly ask, keep evaluating and re-negotiating your professional boundaries so you don’t end up stressed out. Saying “no” might also look like turning off notifications after work hours or removing work apps from your phone.
2. Schedule meeting-free chunks of time. Blocking off entire days from client or team meetings might not be feasible for you. If not, try to cordon off even 1 or 2 hours per day devoted to catching up on your personal work.
3. Schedule breaks. Scheduling time for productivity is somewhat of an obvious one but scheduling time for non-productivity is also important. These breaks can be as small as taking a 15 minute walk or following a short yoga video on YouTube. Allocating time to small moments of recharging can be useful to make you feel more focused and productive when you need to be.
4. Take care of your body and mind. From meditation to regular exercise, be sure to find and stick to tactics you feel nourish and replenish your physical and mental energy. Be sure that you also actually like the type of mental or physical fitness regimen you choose – you’ll be much more likely to stick to it. Also, be realistic in setting your goals around frequency and intensity.
5. Create good habits during off-season. Try to experiment with stress-management tactics and find what works for you before Q1 when things start to heat up. Use this off-season time as your time to deliberately build out a toolkit to lean on in March and April.
6. Find better tools. If repetitive, manual tasks are bogging you down and compounding your stress, it’s time to get your hands on automation tools. Our platform incorporates automation in multiple ways – automated data entry, auto-follow up for clients, automated document organization, and much more. Our other tools and customizations smooth your workflow beyond  automation, too.

*These tips were inspired by the tips found in this Freshbooks article, this CPA Practice Advisor article, this Journal of Accountancy article, and this FM magazine article.

‍