Accounting with Confidence Podcast

39: Breaking the Cycle of Overwhelm: A Personal Journey

• Beth Whitworth • Season 2 • Episode 39

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In this episode I share my personal journey and strategies for managing overwhelm in a busy CPA firm. From early career experiences to current stresses, I discuss my signs of overwhelm, including disrupted sleep, lack of focus, and forgetfulness. I outline practical tips like stepping back to identify what's causing the stress, doing a brain dump, prioritizing tasks, communicating with the team, and finding grounding activities such as exercise. I aim to help listeners navigate the challenges of running a business while maintaining mental and physical health.

 I am Beth Whitworth race car driving quilt making CPA firm owning wife, mom, and boss. I'm here to help you build a business you love by sharing all of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the excellent sides of working in this industry. It's not always easy, but after many years, I can finally say it's worth it.

Let me guide you on your journey to accounting with confidence.

Hi, and welcome to Accounting With Confidence. My name is Beth Whitworth and I am your host here on this podcast. And today I'm kind of winging it. I'm bringing you a confidence booster episode relating to pushing through overwhelm. And the reason I'm winging it is I'm feeling it. I feel that overwhelm pushing in right now, and I just wanted to come on here.

Share with you some of my strategies for coming through that and still getting things done, and still taking care of my mental health and my physical health while I'm working through sort of a, a busy season. I. So I'm gonna start by letting you know in on a little story from way back early in my career, I was working in the second public accounting firm that I worked for, and it was a very small firm and it was owned by two individuals who were the partners.

They hired me and I was, I was still pretty green. I had only been in the industry a couple of years, and I remember coming into work going, okay, you know, I just, I'm not sure what I'm, what I'm supposed to be doing. And I'd walk into my partner Miriam's office for whatever reason, you know, to, to chat with her, to, you know, discuss review points, whatever it was, and her.

Inbox, which back in the day was physically, you know, on your desk was piled high. It had papers, it had uh, folders, it had, um, tax return binders. It had all these things just piling up. And I remember after a conversation with her one day, I walked back into my office and. The inbox on my desk was empty and I thought, gosh, you know, I cannot wait until I have what she has.

She has all this work to do. She, you know, there's, there's not ever a dull moment. There's always something to work on and. I will say that looking back on that, that was great that I had that ambition to have, uh, to want that type of, uh, work coming in. And, and, but once you're in it, it's a different story.

So, um. It didn't take me too long after I, I was there at that firm for about 10 years and I learned a lot from them and it just, all of the things that came with being a part of ownership of a firm. So I was made partner there within a couple years after I started there, so I was starting to take on more and more work.

My inbox was starting to get more full and I left there in. 2007 and went out on my own. And I will tell you, at that time we were still very, very much in the world and realm of paper and files and I have not seen an empty inbox, whether it be electronic or on my desk since. And I believe part of that is this, the world and realm of being a business owner.

But it also is the. Kinda the seasonality of our business and also part of being a visionary and someone who is constantly moving and growing and wanting to try new things. You feel like you can get buried. So I woke up last night thinking about different issues with clients and different things that I, communications I need to have and, and I realized.

Okay, I need to record this episode because that is one of my signs that I am sitting in overwhelm. So my first sign is that I, I don't sleep well, and I am a good sleeper. I love to sleep. I know I need nine hours. And so, yeah, I, I try to get nine hours a night. When I'm just, things are clicking along and I am not feeling overwhelmed, I get some good, solid sleep.

Now, it doesn't mean I sleep all the way through the night. I do wake up and what I know when I'm starting to feel some level of stress or panic or feeling like I'm just not getting things done is at that point when I wake up at night, my brain starts. Just, just going, you know? You know how that is, where you're like, okay, you're thinking about this.

Oh, I need to do that. Oh, I need to do that. And I can't get myself back to sleep. Or if I do, it's, I've already lost a big chunk of time and I'm exhausted for the next day. So I know that that's a sign and I'm living in that a little bit right now. Another sign that for me, when I am kind of, I, I don't call it a symptom 'cause I don't think out overwhelm is an illness.

It's just sort of a frame of mind, I believe. Is that I will have a list of to-dos. And mind you, we have moved completely to a paperless environment. And so that list is in our practice management software, it grows. And what I find myself doing when I'm in that state of. Kind of just feeling like I have too much to do is I see, see myself picking and choosing items on there to work on, and I am working.

I'm picking the things that I can easily get done so that I can have that quick win. And what that is doing is actually perpetuating the, this feeling of not getting things done 'cause I'm not working on. The bigger or the more important, I'm just working on the things that I can finish. And for me, you know, that is not the most productive way of managing, um, my time and my projects and fulfilling the responsibilities that I have to members of my team and my clients.

So I, I find myself really picking and choosing. The third thing that it, I know is a, a sign for me that I am feeling overwhelmed is that I procrastinate and I also start to forget things. I, if I don't write it down, if I don't get it to someone who can put it on my to-do list, I am absolutely forgetting things.

And I used to pride myself on my memory and I have some oddball stuff that sticks in my memory and I could have a conversation with a client six months ago. I. Some, when that comes up, I'm like, oh yeah, we talked about that and this is what we said. But things that I'm forgetting are just some of the, the day-to-day things.

You know, a member of my team says, Hey, can you get me, can you order me a new toner cartridge? It's gone. It's, I have didn't even think about it. You know, there's, there's just a number of things and so my signs are, you know, like I said, interruption of sleep, lack of focus, or picking and choosing what I'm doing, and then just forgetfulness.

So what I have learned from, you know, that that wishing and praying that I would have in inboxes full as Miriam's, is that be careful what you wish for, but there are ways that I have learned to cope and to push through this feeling that I can't, I'm not getting anything done. My wheels are spinning.

There's so much still coming in, and so. The first thing I do is I step back and I, I look at what is causing this, what do I have going on? What is coming up? What is making me feel like I can't move forward? And some of those things in my world that that really weigh heavily on me are things like. We recently decided that we needed to make some changes and, and, um, let a client go.

Okay, well, it took me a long time to work through that, sending that email to them and terminating an agreement for a long-term client that weighs on me. We also had a client that set their, we were planning on making a change with them and they got to it first, which was great, but now we have to offboard that client.

We have a, a conference that coming up, we only go once a year, and this year I'm presenting. I need to get my slides ready and have all of that ready to go. And that's less than three weeks away, you know, so I've got these things that are, are, they're back there weighing on me and I know they're so, so important.

But I tend to not move on them as quickly as I could. And it, you know what, it's like you're working, you, you're dreading something, and then when you finally do it, it didn't take as long. It was easier. The outcome was better than you thought it was gonna be. All those things, you pre procrastinated it for so long, and then when you finally do it, you're like.

Why didn't I do that sooner? And that's where I am with a, a whole bunch of those items. So first, like I said, I step back and say, okay, let's look at what is causing this. What are the, the things that are, are weighing on me that's making the other work hard to get done? The next thing I do is what I call a brain dump.

And I use a. Digital note taking pad called a remarkable, and what I, I, I just still need to hand write, but we learned years ago that me writing on a bunch of post-it notes and never getting that information anywhere into the digital realm was. Painful. So now I use that for note taking, and what I do is I, I'll date it that day and I will do what I call a brain dump.

And that's all the things I'm thinking about that need to be done. Maybe they're already on my practice management list, but they're high priority. Maybe they're personal, maybe their long-term goals. You know, I have cleaned out my daughter's closet. She moved out a year ago and I still haven't cleaned out her closet.

It is now my sewing room, so that I put that on there. Just all these things that I think about, you know, from remembering to that I need to get dog food, you know, I put that on there. So anything that's just in that moment on my mind that I have thought of, maybe I'm looking back through my planner and saying, okay.

Oh, that came up. 'cause in that phone call or, oh yeah. You know, Sarah said she needed this and or I look back through my communication in teams where we communicate with each other and I just do this giant brain dump. And what I have found with doing that is it's, it's replacing what I used to do. So before we were digital, there used to be a lot of.

Of paper and files and all of these things all over my desk. And when I would get overwhelmed, I literally would stop and I would take everything on my desk and put it in a giant pile. And from that pile I would then sort by, okay. This needs to be done today. This needs to be done this week. This can wait, and I would then sort of prioritize those piles.

Well, I don't have those piles anymore, and so because things are not in that paper format where I can hold onto it. It seems to get stuck up in my head and just kind of builds and builds. So I've been working with my assistant Becky, and I've been very inconsistent with getting that, taking that brain dump and sharing it with her so she can help get things as a to-do item on my practice management list.

Or, you know, maybe it's something that she can just take care of for me. Or maybe it's something we look at and say, not now, and let's table that. Stop thinking about it. And sometimes it's just, Hey, let me delegate that. Let's, you know, delegate that to another member of the team and get it off your plate.

I. So that has been very helpful in kind of stopping and doing that brain dump really does give me that opportunity to just put it there and stop dwelling on it. Now, it doesn't necessarily prioritize the work for me, but it does get all of the minutia outta my head as well as the big stuff. And then. I can kind of tweak my, my to-do list inside the practice management software and prioritize.

This is high, this is medium, this is low. The third thing I do is, you know, I work with Becky, my assistant, but I also work and communicate with my team on. What do they need from me? What is holding them back from moving forward on a project that maybe I've been procrastinating and they just need me to get it done?

And for whatever reason, when someone else is, is waiting for you and you're trying to help them move forward, you really do manage to want to get it done. And so I communicate with them, make sure that I am prioritizing things that will help them. Not feel overwhelmed, you know, or to move something forward, which makes all of our accounting brains happy when we're checking things off a list.

So that has been, um, really critical for me is to be able to know when someone is waiting for me if they, they can't move forward unless. I get something done and I will say I am someone that if it's not on my list of things to focus on in the practice management software, it gets lost. And that kind of goes back to my symptom of forgetting things.

I am not a process person. I'm, I'm the visionary in our company and I know how to put a task into the practice management software. Is that the first thing I go to do when something lands on my plate? No. So what happens is, you know, someone tells me they need this, or I have a phone call, or I have an email and instead of immediately making it into a task so I don't forget it, lingers somewhere, ends up on the brain dump list, then ends up on the to-do list.

Now, that is not the most efficient way of managing things, and I know I need to work on that, but. Having that team for me to kind of push on me and help get those things into the system has been really important. And then the last thing I still do to push through overwhelm is. Exercise, and I know you hear that from everybody.

I am still a, a big advocate of finding something that you like to do and do it as often as you can, and you've heard me mention it before. I do Zumba at least five times a week, sometimes more, sometimes less for traveling. I love to do Zumba. I learned during the pandemic to learn to love to wor walk outside again.

And so when it's warm, 'cause I don't walk in the cold, um, when it's warm outside, I love to go for long walks. And right now I'm working on getting our dog, James to kind of. Figure out how to walk with me for exercise and not slow me down so much. But he's, he needs the walks just like I do. We just haven't had the time with the good weather to be able to really work through that.

So no matter how overwhelmed I'm feeling. I will take, I'll say like this past Monday, for example, I was, had just been outta town for four days, three and a half days. Had been outta town the previous week. I'd only had, I'd had less than three days in town between pretty good chunk of trips and. Worked in the truck on that trip.

Worked at the site on that trip 'cause it was a racing trip, and came back on Monday, had a new employee starting. I had a team meeting, I had a big tax planning call. I had all these things. Plus already in that state of overwhelm, you know, not sleeping like I should. Feeling like I, if I can just find some time to push through these things, I can get 'em done.

And I. Almost didn't go to my Zumba class because I was like, I just don't have time for this. I don't have time. And you know, I hadn't ordered groceries. I wasn't sure what we were gonna do for dinner. We hadn't been home in a couple weeks. And I just had all that feeling like I can't do it. And I forced myself to do it anyway.

Once I got in the car and got going and went to that class, it didn't matter. When I'm exercising, I'm not thinking about. Work. I'm not thinking about the things I have to get done right now. I am just hearing the music, moving my body, chatting with, you know, Zumba friends, and that grounds me back into not feeling overwhelmed.

One, because I'm not thinking about that stuff, and two, because I'm doing something good for my body and for me, that is something that. Really, really helps me to sleep better, to think better. And I mean even that if after a class when you're exhausted and you're sweaty and you're just like, okay, I don't think I can do anything else.

I was able to come home, make dinner, get some things done. And I am always so proud of myself that I make the decision to go. And that kind of changes your self-Talk a little bit saying, okay, I did this for me, I. And I need this. So I would say, you know, that's really important for me. Find something that you like to do and that grounds you, that kind of gives you that little bit of an outlet to not think about the things that are going on.

So, like I said, my, my ways I push through the overwhelm are to step back and identify what's causing it. And right now it's that pressure of having this, this conference coming up that I am, I'm speaking at, I've never spoken at this con conference before. It also involves. Air travel and a lot of different, a lot of interactions with people.

So for introverts that's really difficult to find time to get the energy to go to all these receptions and courses and doing all the things, and so that kind of weighs on me. Plus new employee losing clients. Getting, onboarding new clients. There's so much going on. So I identify those things. I then do a brain dump of everything that is going on.

Business, personal, family, ev, anything, anything that I need that's in my head, I share that or I try to remember to share it or I take that and start to prioritize. Prioritize it. Either do it, I mean, do it now, delegate it. Table it essentially don't do it. Defer, I think is what we call that, or delete.

Don't do it at all. You know, there's some things that we put on our plates that are, we're totally in control of whether we do it or not. So, and then also. Communicate with your team. Communicate with someone who, if they need something from you, have them help you prioritize and then take care of you.

Find that, that thing that will ground you. It's a, uh, it's a walk while you're listening to your favorite podcast or a book or, or it's a, it's Zumba where you've got music and dance. Maybe it's bike riding. Maybe it is. Maybe you're a runner or, or maybe it's just you need to take the time to sit outside.

You know, that grounds you. You take your book, your book with pages or your Kindle or whatever, and you sit outside and you take that 20 minutes for yourself to just ground yourself and take care of you and stop. Continuing the cycle of the overwhelm. So I hope this helps someone, anyone, you know, if it helps you, let me know.

I love to hear from you. I love to hear when someone has listened and said, I'm gonna try to take some of those things back and implement them, or they say, yeah, I've been there. I also. Struggle with being overwhelmed and need, need some best practices. And so feel free, leave me some feedback here where you're listening.

There's a button that says, send me fan mail. Uh, send me a text. I think it says maybe. So do that. I would love to hear from you. I would love to hear if you found anything helpful. I'd love to hear what you do. You know, maybe there's something that you do that I can implement to help me get through this too.

So, if you're in that season where you're. Kind of having that, that overwhelm, you know, you're moving, seasons are changing, kids are getting outta school. You've got, you know, lots of stuff going on. Maybe vacation plans. And it starts to, it starts to be a lot. And if you can identify your signs, you know, so like I said, I, I don't sleep well.

I procrastinate things to the extreme, almost to a shutdown level, and I forget things. Those are my signs. If those are happening, I know I need to stop and I need to figure it out and get back in what I would say control. So a little longer than my normal confidence booster. But I did wanna jump on, share this with you and.

Hope that you find something that will, you can take away from this, that can helps you to continue to build a business that you love because you're the only one who can do that. Okay, everybody. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.

Thanks for listening to another episode of Accounting with Confidence. My hope is that my experiences can help you navigate the realities of owning and operating your business. Please subscribe or follow the podcast on your favorite podcast listening platform so that you never miss an episode. Feel free to leave me a text by using the, send us a text message link in the show description and let me know how I'm doing.