Another tax season has come and gone, and now that the dust has settled you’re probably asking yourself “what’s next?”
A reasonable question, and one you’re going to ask yourself a lot during your career. You’re still going to have your share of work and clients through the rest of the year, but nothing quite as frantic or all-encompassing as your workload during tax season.
In the time between then and now, though, there are a few things you can do to help get ready for next year! With these tips, you’ll learn how to get ready, what to do next year, and how to (hopefully) keep everything a little less stressful on you when people start getting their returns back next year:
Accept the long hours. We’ve all been there, and we all hate it, but when tax season starts rolling around next year it’s important to remember that you’re going to be in for some long hours. Take some time and mentally prepare yourself for the idea that you’ll be staying late most nights of the week and maybe even working some Saturdays – we can’t all work at H&R Block, and that means our hours are going to be a little crazy next year. Getting used to the idea now will make it much easier when it actually happens.
Start bonding with your team. Now that everything has slowed down, you might begin to realize you haven’t had a chance to really connect with your coworkers. Try to get a little closer with your team by going out for team lunches or finding a local happy hour you can all sneak off to every once in awhile. It’s a nice chance to talk with your team about something other than work (except for the one coworker we all have who has something about the office to gripe about no matter what) and will help give you all a better sense of camaraderie when the work begins to flood in again.
Learn time management. It sounds a little high school, but learning how to properly manage your time in the off-season will help a ton in the busy months. Break the habit of constantly checking your phone and reviewing your emails so you can stay a little more dedicated to the task at hand – once you get in the groove, it’ll be much easier for you to stay focused when you’re flooded with work next January.
Review and improve from last year. No matter how busy you were, there were bound to be some things that went better than others, and some things that didn’t go as well as expected. Schedule some time with your teammates to try to identify areas for improvement over the last year, whether it’s in customer relations, the amount of work that was performed, or anything. There’s always room for growth, and any opportunities you can identify now will make next year far more productive.
Take care of yourself. It’s a tall order, but you really need to remember to take time for yourself when the business ramps up. Schedule yourself accordingly, make the most of any time off you can get, and if you’re feeling adventurous you can schedule a vacation at the end of the season to get some time to recharge when it’s all said and done. You’ve earned it.
