January 9, 2020
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You are no longer in need of your services
Not everyone’s into making resolutions, but here’s one from Ed Mendlowitz in Accounting Today that might just be provocative enough to get your attention:
Start 2020 by firing yourself as the boss, CEO or managing partner.
I’d make one small change to this: You don’t have to be a boss, CEO, or managing partner to fire yourself. Anyone working in a job or role where they’re feeling unfulfilled should fire themselves.
Yes, it will be a difficult conversation, and maybe you’ll be very surprised by the development, but you’ll have to remind yourself: This isn’t personal. It’s just that you haven’t been living up to your potential, and it seems like you’ve been coasting (everyone has noticed, even your clients), so you’ve decided to go in a different direction. But don’t worry, you’re very talented and there’s a role out there for you; you just have to decide what you want to do.
Now, even if you haven’t engaged in a sort of Fight Club-esque physical altercation with yourself, or chucked your furniture, there may be some regret about how you chose to do some things, maybe some self-reflection, and who knows, even different ideas about what you would do if you had to do it over.
Fortunately, that’s the second part of this meta-exercise:
Then rehire yourself. As the new CEO, what would you do to justify the confidence you had in you?
This is great! You’ve given you a second chance! But, yeah, you’ll have some questions for you to answer, including: What made you think you were so great? What got you excited about this job or business in the first place? Why has that excitement worn off? Can you get it back? What’s missing? Can you fill this void with something other than doughnuts?
You will need to answer these questions honestly. You’ll need to recognize what you can change and what you can’t. “I will feel happy if I am rich and successful RIGHT NOW,” is probably not the attitude you want for long-term fulfillment. You’ll have to work on it. And who knows, if you do the work necessary, you may just break you out of the professional funk you’re in.
Of course, there’s always the risk that you self-examine to the point of second guessing yourself. And hoo boy, I don’t know if this newsletter really needs to discuss dealing with both heavy introspection and imposter syndrome right out of the gate. We have a whole decade to work on these things.
Fresh from Gusto
ICYMI: Here are some of our top posts for accountants from 2019:
- How I Got Creative on Social Media (Even Though I’m An Accountant)
- How to Take Your Accounting Firm Online—In 5 Steps
- Accountants and the People Platform: A New Way to Serve Small Business Clients
- Cloud Accounting Explained in (Mostly) Plain English
And as a special bonus, check out the new step-by-step guide I wrote on preparing the new W-4.
Web learnin’
- How to Get Your Time Management to Thrive This Busy Season with Amber Setter on January 13.
- 5 Marketing Campaigns You Can Run This Week with Matt Wilkinson on January 14.
- Don’t Screw Up Your Pricing This Busy Season: An Introduction to Value Pricing with Greg Kyte (and me) on January 15.
- Top 10 Office 365 Features You Should Be Using But Are Not with Daniel Moshe on January 22.
Read with Gusto
- Time for the Big Four to rethink auditing’s purpose.
- Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan involved planes, trains, automobiles and a giant black box.
- A beginner’s guide to modern classical music.
- “The man […] left the bank, threw money into the air, shouted the holiday wishes, then went to a nearby Starbucks where he sat down and waited to be arrested.”
- Maybe take it easy on the booze this year, okay?
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