Feeling deflated? Here’s how to get your mojo back
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.
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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...
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.
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."
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?
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.
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''
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.