We all know things can be crazy and seem overwhelming during tax season. Here are 5 tips to keep you productive during the busy season:
- Clean your desk and your “virtual desk” regularly. While daily cleaning of your desk may seem like a dream, we should at least try to do it weekly. Get all the paper scanned or shredded. Also designate time to clean out your e-mail inbox. You should delete unneeded emails and just leave emails that need to be addressed.
- Start your day with a To Do At the start of the day create a list of everything you must get accomplished today and items that you would like to get done today. It is recommended to keep a list of long term goals for the week, month, and year for any downtime you may have.
- Now that you have your list of tasks for the day, block off time in your calendar for each of them. During this time, turn off your phone, close your Outlook, and close your office door and focus on accomplishing the task at hand and ignore everything else.
- Your calendar now has time built into it for addressing tasks that must be done. We should also schedule time to return calls and review emails. It is much more productive doing this at scheduled times during the day because you can deal with more at once and you aren’t stopping your work to deal with every incoming call or email.
- Our last tip is to take a break. Walk to grab the mail, a cup of coffee, or just a quick stroll around the block can help reset and can also help generate a new list of tasks to be accomplished.
