Last week, in the Briefcase, we talked about how time is uncontrollable, CPD deadlines always creep up on you, and how using SMART goals can stop your December from turning into a furious race to the finish.
So, if you’ve taken our advice, which you of course have done, you’ll have already started your CPD. Congratulations!
But what other goals do accountants set themselves, apart from quitting their jobs? Let’s have a look.
🎯 The professional goals
The classic resolution – climb that slippery pole to promotion.
Maybe this is the year you finally make manager, or maybe it’s the year you leave the stress of the public sector or the Big Four and open that four-day-a-week, one-person practice in the Cotswolds you’ve always dreamed of.
We all want to work less and get paid more. Rare is the worker nowadays who isn’t one bad week away from a complete burnout. Annoyingly, though, promotions take time. But it might be an easier option than updating your CV, which is still sitting in a folder called "pleasehireme.docx”.
If you’re still struggling, we actually do have a CPD course on this: Careers in Accounting and Finance.
🧘 The personal goals
Ah, yes – the life part of work-life balance. This is where resolutions require you to shed your personality like a snake, becoming a totally new person, with new motivations and desires.
Exercise three times a week. Meditate in the mornings. Be more mindful. Read a book instead of scrolling LinkedIn. Learn braille. Uncover the secrets of your local ruins. Do a class in tightrope walking.
These are all wonderful ideas – the sort of things your more wholesome colleagues talk about in Monday meetings while sipping something herbal. They come to us after we’ve overindulged in the festive period, and the cold but limited light of January streams through our window.
You might not nail every habit you plan, but even small wins count. And, in fact, even very, very small wins count.
🗂️ The life admin goals
Accountants are a pragmatic bunch – they get distracted from a work spreadsheet because they started thinking about a non-work spreadsheet.
So, naturally, a lot of resolutions involve operational upgrades – automate your budget calculator, sync your calendar with a loved one without sending them an email for every event, finally figure out how to make Power Query work without searching "power query reddit”.
We’re making a punt here, but there’s a good chance you run your household. You’re making the shopping lists, and you’re helping your partner find the scissors for the third time today. You can’t fix them, but you can make a change that you can shove in their face while screaming "see! See how easy it is!”
📚 The CPD goals
A lot of people resolve to stop leaving their CPD until the last minute. They then proceed to cram in 15 hours on New Year’s Eve when they should be either:
- A. At a terrible party pretending to know the words to Auld Lang Syne but actually mumbling.
- B. Paying a small fortune to get into a place that is usually free.
- C. Watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny and saying "Ooo, who is she, she’s good, I like that”.
Maybe this is the year to try a new, more structured approach. Like, say, a programme that sends you two hours of CPD each month without you having to think about it. Imagine that! Some sort of Accountant’s Update Programme…
💀 The do-or-die ones
Some resolutions cut deeper. Like "stop burning out”, "find a job where I don’t cry in the toilet” or simply "quit”.
They might sound dramatic, but they’ve probably been festering on the backburner for a while, and they’re also probably pretty achievable.
If this sounds like you, you're not alone. Winning the lottery might solve these problems, but so does applying for a different job. Even just spending an hour scrolling through job listings can be helpful.
Your work isn’t supposed to erode your soul, even though it so often does. So, if you feel like something’s got to give – listen to that.
🧠 Final thoughts
A lot of resolutions are wishcasting. We’re deciding on who we want to be, and how we can get a little closer to being them. Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to find it as easy to go for a run as it is to eat a bag of Haribo.
But maybe you do one thing differently. Maybe you do finish that CPD course early. Maybe you do block out that calendar time and stick to it. Maybe you do give up on doing everything alone. Doing something like that can make you feel extremely good, even if no one around you cares.
Here’s to a new year! We hope that this time next year, you realise there was one resolution you accidentally kept.
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