With work-life changing and more people going into remote work, as a CPA, it becomes more apparent to you that remote flexibility has always been part of the job scope.
In fact, there are more outsourced CPAs today than there were before. But just like reviewing budgets and taxes, you also need to take stock of how productive you are when working-from-home.
Here are seven hacks to help you get through tax season:
- The To-Do List
You probably realize how lists have a positive effect on how we do things. A list presents a visual presentation to help you get organized. So yes- make lists and paste them on your home office wall. Look at them every day and make sure to tick it off one by one.
2. The Two Minute Rule
What can you do in two minutes? This can be anything from making a phone call to a client or updating your business calendar, or even making quick tax calculations. Give yourself at least 10 to 15 minutes every day to do non-email related things, and once that’s out of the way, switch on your computer and proceed to emails.
3. The Five Minute Rule
What can you do in five- minutes? Just like the two-minute rule, you need to look at your tasks and see which of these you can get done in 5 minutes. This not only allows you to accomplish quite a lot, but it will also feel like a gamified feeling to get the job done under 5! From going in for a quick Zoom meeting, balancing spreadsheets, sending your client an update, or downloading an accounting software- you’ve ceased the day!
4. Track Your Time
Tracking your time works for people who want to increase productivity or for those who have no idea how productive they are or feel like they’re spending time on non-productive things. The point of this whole exercise is to see what wasteful activities you do on a daily basis that decreases your productivity. By tracking what you do for just one week, you can see what habits go against helping you stay focused.
5. Limit the variety
As a remote CPA, you don’t need to dress up too much (unless you want to). The great thing about working remotely is not having to abide by corporate rules of how one should dress. Make simple, easy, yet polished choices for your remote work so you can focus your time on important things.
6. Block your distractions
Social media, your smartphone are all daily distractions. If you find yourself getting distracted easily during work- then BLOCK it. Set a Do Not Disturb timer on your phone that can help you do this- it can block the apps that you want for a certain period of time.
7. Me time!
A personal time only by yourself to do what you want? This is definitely a good thing because just a few minutes of having lunch by yourself, going for a run, reading a book can provide mental relief, enabling you to re-focus and re-align to accomplish the day’s tasks.
