What is Productivity, Anyway?
Also, I left my apartment twice already this week. And will do it again today!
Project management tools, lists, emails, all the things to do. It’s enough to overwhelm and shut down a person.
As I’m writing this, I’m wrapping up the last of my engagement letters. I’m not down to just hard ones, but, at this point, none of them are easy. I have what feels like a mountain to release still. And I want them all done before the end of the day (it’s not going to happen, and I’ve accepted this, but what I’ve accepted and what I want aren’t always the same thing).
But Megan, you automate everything what do you mean you’re still sending out engagement letters!?
Yes, I automate as much as is reasonably possible. And this year, I automated even more. But all of that automation doesn’t remove the need to personalize most of what I do. But hold up, let’s come back to that thought in a minute.
I want to step way from all that busy-ness.
I want to talk about stepping away from my desk and doing other things. This week, I’ll have three days I’m spending some amount of time away from my desk during working-productivity-“normal” business hours (I consider these to be 9amish - 6pmish):
on Monday, I had to stop working around 4 to go to a meetup hosted by Portland for All
on Tuesday, I started my morning by going to the DMV to renew my ID (and cross my fingers my new one gets here before the temporary one expires). I didn’t get back until almost noon
on Thursday, I’m heading out to a meetup hosted by an App (and crossing my fingers some of my heroes are there, too). I’m even leaving a little early to meet with my business partner before we go and enjoy this outing.
Monday and Tuesday, even though I spent a couple of hours not working, I was almost as productive as I might have been otherwise. I think I may not have even missed a beat on possible productivity as compared to actual productivity. Today, less so. But there’s still time before I leave and plenty to get a few things done.
There’s something to be said about stepping way, stepping aside, and clearing your head for a bit. Stepping away doesn’t always mean actual reduced productivity. Sometimes, it just means it’s easier to drill down into the thing(s) that matter most.
It’s hard to let go. But it’s also good to do so. And I, for one, am appreciative of the reminder.
What about those engagement letters!?
Don’t you just use an app or a mail merge or something!?
Yes, and no. Starting with the 2024 tax season, I’ve really leaned into the things that work for me and my brain. When Id o this, I show up for my clients in the best way I possibly can. And, as it turns out, showing up like this supports my clients, too. They feel prepared and supported for the season. Everyone wins!
So, it’s less about engagement letters and more about setting the engagement. I use Google Workspaces, and wrote a Google Apps Script that:
creates the client’s engagement letter as a Doc and a pdf
creates the folders in my workspace for the current year tax return
sets up my reconciliation workpapers relevant to that client type
Setting the engagement means I run the script, review the important parts of the engagement letter, and set up a workflow in my portal for the tax return. That workflow includes:
Signing the engagement letter I mentioned above
Initial payment link
A generic questionnaire everyone needs to complete
Additional questionnaires based on the tax return (Schedule C, E, etc)
A document request list based on the client’s prior year tax return and/or tax planning during the year
Specific document requests - this gives each thing I need a place to land within the portal. It also helps clear up the question, “I don’t know what I need to give you.” They can, and likely do, because the questions are in the portal.
Yes, all of this takes time. Last year, I was averaging an hour minimum and closer to two hours for many to most of these. This year, by leaning into the automations Google itself offers, I’ve cut this down to an average of 30 minutes, with the larger/harder returns (both in content of the return and in emotional hardness for me personally) being 45 minutes to an hour. It’s a huge time savings.
But it’s also cleared the way for my mental energy significantly. I’m not quite where I want to be for this tax season, but, I’m getting really close. And, even if I don’t quite make it to having everything out and released by the end of the day, I’ll be down to a small handful I can email before I leave for my adventure and tell them it’s coming tomorrow.
What space have you given yourself recently?