One of the common complaints I hear from the CPAs and the leaders I work with is that many don’t seem to “have enough time”. The same goes for managers as they look around at how people on their team are doing.

It can feel like the day has been hijacked even before it begins – a growing inbox of unread messages, voicemails and texts to respond to. Which can throw us into a battle mode, trying to hack our way out, get things done as quickly as possible, all the while defending against new threats to our time.

Living this way is completely draining, and often deflating. It often gets in the way of what was most important, or our ability to produce our best work or go to bed at the end of it all feeling “that was a great day!”

First there were the moths. Last week it was thick smoke and a red sun. What's next? Locusts? It does feel a bit apocalyptic at times.

With many regions seeing a rise in COVID-19 numbers, along with increasing concerns as we navigate back-to-school (for those with school age kids), and who knows what challenges you are facing this week, it feels like a lot some days.

And, if you are noticing your brain thinking "man, we need a break from all of this", that would be a completely natural reaction. A break would be nice! Unfortunately, …

Have you ever had a huge reaction to someone or a situation, where you blew things out of proportion and were less than your rational self? It could have been a perceived injustice at work, thinking someone purposely went around you and your team? Or perhaps a perceived lack of transparency around why you didn’t get a promotion or project file?

Your legs feel like stone. Your brain is struggling to focus. Fatigue weighs on every muscle. You have no desire to eat or drink. And you are not sure about that rumbling in your bowels! These are some of the sensations that marathoners describe as they get into the last few miles of a race.

And while many of us don’t choose to run marathons, it’s starting to feel like in our own way we are all running one right now.

Some of the leaders I work with have noticed that on one hand, while they feel more settled, on the other hand they are also wondering if they are doing enough. They have become used to navigating the daily challenges of a crisis and it now feels strange to have less to respond to. How about you?

There is more than one way to build resilience and right now, we may just need is a little more lightness and focus on happiness, laughter and joy.  

It’s been over two months now since Covid-19 completely altered our world in ways we never could have imagined. And while in some areas, restrictions are very slowly starting to ease, our new normal is still vastly different from the one we knew just a few months ago (but which feels so distant now).

While many of us are starting to adapt to this new “normal” in our own ways, most of us are still experiencing a variety of challenges and hardships. Even if you haven’t lost your job and you are healthy, you may still be struggling some days.

For all of us non-essential workers who are now working from home, focus has become a rare commodity. If there weren’t enough distractions at work, there are even more at home.

In Part 1 of this article, we faced the external distractions that are not only robbing our attention, but stealing our life. That article provided tips and tools to help you consciously delete the distractions around you and prioritize your attention. Hopefully you implemented a few of them – since those tips alone can save you 30 to 90 minutes/day of lost time and attention to things that often don’t really matter. Per day! That is huge!

Yet for many of us, we have another challenge that is often more difficult to ‘delete’. You may have noticed it - your mind’s tendency to wander off topic.

We are in a strange time and space right now. I don’t know about you, but after a few weeks of our new ‘normal’, it has started to feel, well, a little bit more ‘normal’ for me. It is quite profound at times how quickly we adjust, and all of us have been adapting and adjusting each week to the evolving constraints (and opportunities) we all now live within.

While having a virtual coffee with a CPA friend, Stewart Marshall at CloudControlCPA, he mentioned how in times like these, it is very much an exercise of bringing his clients back to the basics.

Simple questions like “Do you know your numbers? How much cash do you have? What are your receivables? What happens if revenue stops?”