Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
A dog getting a belly rub
istock_belly-rub_Brad-Covington

Feeling deflated? Here’s how to get your mojo back

by

Lucy Cohen explains how you can find your mojo again when you’re up against deadlines, clients and a creeping sense that running your practice shouldn’t be this hard.

 

13th Jun 2022
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

In news to absolutely nobody, sometimes running your practice is not all sunshine and rainbows. Usually, we’re all able to weather the tougher times because the pros far outweigh the cons. 

We’ve all had that client that calls you at 4:30 pm on a Friday with a “but it won’t take you long” request. Or the member of staff that has taken a Monday off “sick” for the fifth time this year when Facebook reveals they may have had a bit of an, erm, busy weekend. Or the sniffle you’ve had that has turned into a proper cold and you don’t feel that you can really afford a day in bed to recuperate because you’re so busy.

Most of us, most of the time, can shake all of that stuff off. But sometimes, you can be left wondering if it’s all really worth it, right? All this effort, stress, and uncertainty – sometimes it can get you down.

Losing my mojo

I had a period of this recently myself. We’d had a busy month and faced a couple of recruitment issues that left us frustrated. An unexpected cost had cropped up, and progress on one of our projects was going more slowly than I’d have liked. I found myself waking up on a drizzly Tuesday morning with an “ugh, not this again” feeling as I went to my desk. 

I flipped through my daily affirmation calendar, desperately searching for inspiration to perk me up a bit and get my head back in the right space. But by the time I’d zoomed forward in time to September, nothing was giving me the right feeling. By lunchtime, I was still grumpy and wondering what my life might look like if I didn’t have all of this “running your own business” nonsense to contend with. I think it’s safe to say that I wasn’t all that much fun to be around that day. By dinner time, even I was sick of my own company.

That night I went to bed feeling really quite deflated. As I grabbed my Kindle from the nightstand, hoping that maybe some good fiction would distract me, my dog leaped onto the bed and plonked herself right in front of me. She pawed me, asking for some fuss, and then promptly flipped onto her back for some belly rubs. I obliged because, let’s face it, I am but a minion to the whims of my dog at all times, and she rewarded me with the waggiest tail of the day.

And there it was – my mood flipped, and suddenly, I was out of my funk and feeling positive again. Why? Because in those few seconds, my dog had reminded me of the importance of gratitude and the little things. All she needed was some belly rubs to have the waggiest tail in the world – why was I fixating on things? I needed to be more dog!

The following day, I took some positive steps to get myself back to feeling upbeat and hopeful again, and I’m pleased to say that I’m keeping a few of them as part of my daily life.

So if you’re feeling a bit deflated, fed up, and gloomy, here are a few of the things I’ve found that have successfully got my mojo back.

Practising gratitude

I’ve been teaching myself to be grateful for absolutely everything in my life – and I mean everything. 

Husband broke the small chicken ornament I bought in France? Great! It was a clean break, and here’s my chance to see how skilled I can be at repairing it.

Accidentally getting locked out of the house? No problem! A chance to go for a walk in my neighbourhood until someone comes along with a spare key.

I’ll confess, it can be quite the challenge to try to see the positive in absolutely every eventuality (I really did love that chicken ornament), but forcing yourself to do just that helps you to reframe a situation. Trying to be grateful for everything the universe plonks on your plate is an exercise in learning that you get to choose your reaction. You may not be able to control what happens, but you can control how you react, and there is power in that.

Get organising

I’m the first to admit that I am a very environment-sensitive person. I can’t focus if my workspace is disorganised. In fact, if I know that there is clutter to be tidied away in another room of the house, I find it distracting. That means that I have a habit of putting things away into cupboards and drawers and forgetting they exist. Then one day, I’ll open that drawer, and it’s essentially a junk drawer, with no rhyme nor reason to it full of loose batteries, bits of twine, and things I thought might be useful at some point in the past but I now cannot for the life of me remember why I kept them. (Set of artificial artichokes, anyone?)

Find a drawer like that and organise it. I’ve tasked myself with tackling one of those per month, and it’s unbelievably motivating. There’s something about the fact that you’ve tackled an unsightly mess that can leave you well set up for whatever challenges the week ahead may throw at you. You don’t need to go full Marie Kondo, but you’ll be amazed at how vitalising it can be.

Write a letter to your past self

Bear with me on this one. If you’re finding the gratitude thing challenging, then this might make you feel deeply uncomfortable, but I promise you it works.

If you’re in a funk, write a letter to your past self. Tell them how far they have come with their practice, how much they have achieved, and that, even though it can be tough, they have made a success of things. 

Tell them how they didn’t need to worry about all of those fears they had when they started out because you’ve overcome them all. 

Tell them how proud they’ll be of themselves.

When you’re done, read the letter back and think how you’d feel if, when you started out, you’d have been able to read those words – and how amazing and confident that would have made you feel.

Your past self would probably be delighted if they knew how far they’d got.

Remember that this is normal

Running a practice is tough, and times when you feel a bit less enthused than normal are, well, perfectly normal.

Sometimes sitting with the sad bits or the angry bits can be good for us – after all, we don’t want to stop ourselves from feeling what are perfectly normal emotions. But if you recognise that you could do with a bit of a pick-me-up, I’ve found remembering that this is normal is really helpful in getting myself back on track.

So if you’ve been looking to get your mojo back let me know if any of these work for you.

Replies (16)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By Hugo Fair
13th Jun 2022 23:50

"I flipped through my daily affirmation calendar" ... yer wot?

Thanks (8)
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
14th Jun 2022 09:49

A highly irresponsible article from AccountingWeb here.

This sort of "getting out of a funk is easy" article makes it worse for people that suffer from depression. "All you need to do is tickle a dog's tummy a dog's tummy and everything will be fine" is a dangerous message. Because, if you have a bad bout of depression, that won't help and being told it will only makes things worse (What sort of a terrible person can I be to not even get enjoyment from giving a dog a belly rub?)

You would think the person that wrote this article would know better.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/practice/general-practice/the-taboo-of-s...

Thanks (10)
Replying to stepurhan:
avatar
By Ben10000
14th Jun 2022 10:53

Agreed

Thanks (1)
Replying to Ben10000:
avatar
By Susan Keane
14th Jun 2022 11:09

Actually though, the article is genuinely helpful for people that have just lost a bit of their mojo. There are quite a few of us out there, as well as genuinely depressed people. It's not all black and white.

Thanks (2)
Replying to stepurhan:
Richard Hattersley
By Richard Hattersley
14th Jun 2022 11:20

This article is not about depression.

It is for practitioners who feel just a little fed up with the daily headaches that come with running an accountancy practice.

The author used examples of staff problems or workload. As she described,
"We’d had a busy month and faced a couple of recruitment issues that left us frustrated... I found myself waking up on a drizzly Tuesday morning with an 'ugh, not this again' feeling as I went to my desk."

She was clearly describing a temporary problem rather than an illness like depression. As the NHS website says, "Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days."

Thanks (4)
Replying to Richard Hattersley:
Profile
By indomitable
14th Jun 2022 12:03

It may not be actually about depression but depression is a spectrum and the article does come across as advice on how to deal with let's just say the 'blues'

Not sure what this forum is about anymore?

Thanks (7)
Replying to indomitable:
By Silver Birch Accts
14th Jun 2022 12:14

You are not alone.

Thanks (5)
Replying to Richard Hattersley:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
14th Jun 2022 14:28

Richard Hattersley wrote:

This article is not about depression.


With all due respect, if it is not an article about depression, it needs to explicitly state that.

Because it comes across as someone describing being depressed, but getting out of it really easily. This is why people with genuine depression struggle to get support. They tell people that "effort, stress and anxiety" (as mentioned in the opening of the article) are making them depressed. They are told they just need to cheer up and this article will be used as yet another example of how easy it is to do that.

In fact, the article arguably does include an example of "feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days" as per the NHS definition of depression. The section "Write a letter to your past self" is addressed to those for whom the quick fixes aren't working. They just have to write a letter to their past selves and all will be well apparently.

AccountingWeb needs to do better.

Thanks (1)
By Silver Birch Accts
14th Jun 2022 12:13

I wonder how you would cope living in Eastern Ukraine, never mind running a business there. This article is the self indulgent type of article more suited to Mumsnet than a site for accountants and tax professionals. I suspect many reading this have recently lost relatives or friends, they may be ill themselves, yet the author is worried about a ''small chicken ornament''

Thanks (7)
Replying to Silver Birch Accts:
avatar
By Halex
15th Jun 2022 11:46

Sorry , but if we take your attitude a little further we would need to compare every concern against a bigger one. War in Ukraine ?- hey that's nothing compared with starvation in deepest Africa. We enter a Monty Python scenario.

Show a little compassion!

Your derogatory use of Mumsnet as an example speaks volumes!

Thanks (0)
Replying to Halex:
avatar
By johnjenkins
15th Jun 2022 12:58

Stop nicking my phrases.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By johnjenkins
14th Jun 2022 12:54

Lucy, all business are suffering at the moment. The workforce has changed its habits. There is more of a "couldn't care less attitude" than ever before.
Let's take a good look at what has happened.
MTD
The long winded Brexit.
The EU are still trying to "punish" us.
The GE.
The 2 year pandemic, including "lockdown" with the jab process.
Now the war in Ukraine with the possibility of a world war.
Not to mention JD and AH (phew).
Yet the illegals still want to come here even though Boris is in charge.
The world is in a transition of political change that I think is going to have some affect on many people.
There's a Monty Python sketch in there somewhere.

Thanks (1)
avatar
By graydjames
14th Jun 2022 13:57

The notion of writing a letter to my past-self makes me feel so toe-curlingly uncomfortable that I do not think I could do it unless under duress!

I have two draws full of a random collection of stuff; so one a month takes me two months. What next?

Do people get paid for these supposed well-being articles that are becoming increasingly common on this site? I find them depressing because they just remind me that life in practice can be a drag. Before reading this I was getting along quite well.

Thanks (3)
FT
By FirstTab
15th Jun 2022 09:10

Please no advice, unless requested.

Just talk about your experience and your challenges.

Key problems are messy and cannot be overcome in a neat article. They take time. Some may never be overcome. It is a matter of trying all the time. This is where your articles would be of some value.

Thanks (2)
avatar
By whyowhy
15th Jun 2022 10:35

On a personal note, 99% of my ‘funks’ are simply due the fact I want to run a business and not be an accountant. And I am struggling to make that transition. I think in an ideal world a lot of the issues brought up in the article would be handled by a decent management team. I only know two accountants who have managed to get their businesses to this level. It’s not easy.

Thanks (0)
Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
16th Jun 2022 10:24

I come from a generation where boys don't cry, and phrases like man up etc were common, whilst I don't that that jaded me, its good that these things are discussed more openly but I think there is a need to be careful of the language used and there is a risk of over sharing.

We are all stressed and busy, stress is not a mental illness. Those that cope with stress better tend to be more successful.

The main problem we all had these last 2 years is the length of time the problems lasted, you can peak for a 2 month period for tax season as you know you have a few months easy time to follow, but 2 years flat out with very little breaks was just too much.

The main thing I missed after a bad day was the inability to grab a beer /coffee with pals to put the world right, I guess that is my version of a tickling the dog.

I found having a good peer /mastermind group to discuss issues with was invaluable through the last 2 years.

As for the staffing issue the whole western world is in this position. Your first step should be to safe guard the team you have with the best culture you can deliver. If you cannot recruit would it hurt you to slow your growth plans down for a few months, delay taking on new work or building a waiting list for clients, don't say yes to everything then panic when you cannot fulfil the work.

I know a lot of accounting pals who have really struggled these last few years for reasons far greater than a messy desk in another room.

Ultimately its only accountancy / paperwork no one dies if a meeting is moved a week.

Focus on your personal goals of why you set up the business and what the business should deliver for you and don't lose sight.

Your success should be gauged on how much time you spend with kids or how much time you get to do your hobbies not focussed on 45 degree growth line stressing the hell out of you because its levelling off.

Thanks (1)