A Brutal Pace

The middle of May is finally here. The deadlines have come and gone (at least for most of you). And now it’s time for a well-deserved break. You HAVE to take time off and take a breath. You have to recharge and refresh, having endured a sometimes BRUTAL, year and a half.

You’ve been at a ridiculous pace over the past 16 months.  Since the beginning of last year, it’s been absolutely crazy. Yes, after the moving deadlines, restricted movement and long months, the masks are coming off and its time to take a breath, literally and figuratively.

Remember last year? When you did have some time off, so many of you said that there was no place to go and nothing to do. So you stayed around and worked through your normal recharge routine. The problem is that you didn’t recover, only to enter 2021 with more uncertainty, changing dates, new federal programs and…completely depleted of energy. And your health has taken its toll. IT’S TIME TO TAKE A BREAK.

Make It Work

This time, it’s up to you to do something you haven’t had to do—YOU have to make it happen. In years past, you have relied on the normal schedule, routine and seasons. Built in were expected downtimes. Without any sense of normalcy and everyone being different, YOU will have to make it work for you.

I remember an audit partner telling one of his staff that, if he got his work done, he could steal away an afternoon or even a day here and there and no one will say anything. True or not, his point was that you have to find ways of making the profession work for you and not become a slave to it.

I saw a really good article from the University of Michigan that explains the benefits of literal breathing and gives examples of how to breathe to gain the maximum benefit. The point is that, with simple breathing, YOU take charge of your recharge-responsibility and make it work for you.

You have to make the time to take a breath. No one can or will do it for you. PLEASE. Take. A. Breath.