With Tax Season starting in less than a month, now is the time to get yourself in order. I often resort back to the 5Ps that my High School economics teacher ingrained in the class – Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. How does this translate to tax season?
- Revisit what didn’t work last year. Yes, 2020 was a unique year, but many of us are still working remotely. Make sure you have the systems in place and the workflow that you need to connect all the dots of your business management processes. If you need help, check out one of our guides.
- Make sure you are up to date on all the tax changes. In any given year there are bound to be tweaks regarding tax code. Between the CARES Act and COVIDTRA there is even more to absorb and understand. For additional information on areas of concern, take a read through this article.
- Clean out your desk and refresh your office space. If you are still working remotely, you need your desk and the environment surrounding your daily tasks to help foster success. For thoughts around what you can do, this article might help spark some ideas!
- Figure out how you are going to manage your stress before the work starts to pick up. We all have it! The hard part is managing how to lessen it before it takes over, especially when you are crunched for time. For me exercise has always been my stress reliever. When things get busy, it is almost impossible to set aside a dedicated amount of time to get a full workout in. To compensate, I started to break down my workouts in to 10-20 minute intervals throughout the day. And yes, I write down when they will occur. By breaking the time down to smaller allotments, it becomes achievable, By writing it down, I become accountable.
- Prioritize. How do you go about doing your work every day? Is it LIFO, FIFO, deadline driven, or urgency driven? Whatever it is, decide which is the best way for you to prioritize and manage your work and stick to it!