Before I get started I just wanted to mention that I was talking to my husband about how many topics I have written down to cover on the podcast and how there aren’t enough weeks in the year to teach everything I want to teach you all.  That’s when I decided that I want to do an extra episode each week.

So I’ve started a new weekly mini-series called Smarter in 5 Minutes. It’s exactly what it sounds like: one quick idea to help you work and live smarter, always under five minutes.

These episodes go live every Monday and are perfect if you just need a quick mindset shift, productivity tip, or brain-based nudge to start your week off right.

If you haven’t listened yet, check out the latest Smarter in 5 Minutes episode wherever you’re listening to this—it’s right in the main podcast feed.

You know how some days feel like they slip right through your fingers? You look up, it’s 5 p.m., and you wonder where the time went.

I’ve had plenty of those days. The ones where you were busy all day, but still feel like you didn’t really get anything done.

It can feel like you’re always playing catch-up. Like no matter how early you start or how much you try to stay on top of things, there’s always more waiting for you.

I used to think the answer was doing more. So I would pack more into my day, hoping that would help me feel less behind.

But all that did was make me feel even more tired. And still not caught up.

It’s funny how we can be working so hard, but still feel like we’re falling short. Like we’re chasing something we can’t quite catch.

There were times I thought, “Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the problem.” But over the years of being an accountant and working with accountants, I’ve seen this same thing happen again and again.

So many smart, hardworking accountants trying to do everything, yet feeling like they’re barely keeping it together.

And it’s not because they’re lazy or bad at managing their time. It’s because no one ever taught them how to think about time in a way that actually helps.

If you’ve ever ended the day wondering why you’re so exhausted but still behind, you’re not alone. If you’ve ever looked at your calendar and felt dread instead of direction, I get it.

What if the issue isn’t how much you have to do? What if it’s how your brain is handling it?

That’s something I wish more accountants knew. Because once you get that part sorted out, everything else starts to feel a little lighter.

Let’s talk about how to stop spinning in stress and start getting back some control. It might be simpler than you think.

Why It Feels Like You’re Always Behind

Let’s be real—being an accountant often feels like running on a treadmill that’s just a little too fast.

You’re moving all day, checking things off, answering emails, going to meetings, handling deadlines… and yet, it still feels like you didn’t get enough done.

That’s where so many accountants get stuck. They’re busy from the minute they sit down to the minute they log off, but they’re not actually making the progress they want to make.

It’s frustrating because you’re trying. You’re doing what you’ve been taught—work hard, stay organized, get through the list. But the list never ends, and neither does the pressure.

Part of the problem is that most time management advice isn’t built for the accountant brain. It doesn’t account for how much you juggle or how your mind reacts to pressure.

And don’t even get me started on how our brain convinces us that everything is urgent. I’ve talked about The Mere Urgency Effect on the podcast before and it messes with your ability to see what’s truly important.

So you wind up reacting all day instead of being in control of your day. And that’s exhausting.

If it feels like you’re spinning your wheels, you’re not alone. And there’s a reason it’s happening – your accountant brain.

What Your Brain Has to Do With All This

Here’s something nobody really talks about: your brain works against you when it comes to time and time management.

It’s not trying to mess you up on purpose. It’s just doing what it’s wired to do—avoid anything uncomfortable and save energy.

That’s why you might put things off, scroll your phone, or suddenly feel confused about what to do next. Your brain is trying to keep you safe from stress, even if that “safety” means staying stuck.

But here’s the twist—there’s another part of your brain that can handle planning and making smart decisions. It’s just quieter and slower.

That part of your brain wants to think ahead, map things out, and follow through. But it has to fight the louder part that says, “Let’s just do what feels easier right now.”

This is why time management feels so hard, especially for accountants. It’s not that you don’t know what to do—it’s that your brain is pulling you in two directions.

So it’s not really a time problem. It’s a brain problem. And once you understand how your brain works, you can stop fighting it and start working with it.

Okay, now that we know what’s going in our brain, I want to share the 7 time management strategies for improved productivity.

#1 – Understand That “Busy” Is Just a Thought

Let’s talk about that go-to phrase we all use: “I’m so busy.”

It feels like a fact, right? Like you’re reporting the news. But the truth is, “busy” is a thought—not something we can see or measure.

You could have the same day as someone else, same number of meetings and tasks, but feel totally different depending on what you’re thinking. One person might feel calm and focused, the other might feel buried and overwhelmed.

Saying “I’m so busy” over and over trains your brain to believe you’re already behind. And when your brain believes that, it starts to panic.

And guess what happens when you’re in panic mode? Focus goes out the window. You spin, you stress, and everything takes longer.

You can start shifting things just by noticing what you’re telling yourself. What if instead of “I’m so busy,” you tried, “I have plenty of time for what matters”?

That simple shift can change how your day feels. And when your brain feels calmer, it works better too.

#2 – Take a Look at Where Your Time Is Actually Going

Have you ever ended the day wondering what you even did? Like you were working all day, but somehow your to-do list didn’t get any shorter?

That’s where a little honest look at your time can make a big difference.

Most of us think we know how we spend our time. But what we think and what’s really happening aren’t always the same.

This is where awareness comes in. When you track your time—without judging yourself—you get to see the full picture.

You might notice little habits that are quietly eating up hours. Or you might see that your energy dips at certain times, and you’re forcing yourself to push through.

You can’t fix something if you don’t know it’s broken. And you can’t take charge of your time if you don’t know where it’s going.

So start by getting curious. Not critical. Just curious. You might be surprised by what you find.

#3 – Get It Out of Your Head and Onto Paper

Your brain was never meant to hold everything. It’s not a storage unit—it’s more like a problem solver.

When you try to remember all the things you need to do, your brain stays in overdrive. It keeps looping through your mental list, afraid you’ll forget something.

That constant loop creates stress. And stress makes it harder to focus and actually get stuff done.

When you write everything down, big or small, your brain can finally relax. It stops clinging to every little reminder and starts doing what it does best—figuring things out.

A clear mind leads to clearer action. The more you offload from your head, the more space you create to focus and follow through.

#4 – Focus on What Matters Most, Not What’s Screaming the Loudest

Have you ever started your day planning to tackle something important, but ended up chasing a bunch of little things instead?

That’s your brain falling for the Mere Urgency Effect again. It tricks you into thinking that anything urgent must be important—even when it’s not.

So you end up answering every email, reacting to every request, and putting out tiny fires all day. Meanwhile, the big stuff that really matters keeps getting pushed to tomorrow.

When everything feels important, it’s hard to know where to start. And when you don’t decide what matters most, your brain will choose for you—and it usually picks whatever feels easiest or loudest.

Setting clear goals and picking your top priorities helps you take charge of your time. It helps your brain stop reacting and start focusing.

Because when you focus on what truly matters, that’s when real progress happens.

#5 – Make It Easier for Your Brain to Follow Through

Big projects can feel like a lot. Even when you want to get them done, it’s easy to put them off.

Your brain doesn’t like things that feel hard, confusing, or never-ending. So if a project feels too big or too unclear, your brain’s going to say, “Let’s do something else.”

That’s why you need a clear plan. Projects need structure—what needs to be done, when it’s due, and what the steps are.

They also need accountability. Whether it’s checking in with someone or setting mini-deadlines, your brain needs a reason to stick with it.

When things feel easier to manage, you’re more likely to start. And once you start, it’s a whole lot easier to keep going.

#6 – Protect Your Focus Like It Matters—Because It Does

When you sit down to work, how many things are fighting for your attention? Emails, messages, phone alerts… it never ends.

Your brain can’t focus on more than one thing at a time, even if it feels like you can. That’s why multitasking is a myth—it just splits your attention and wears you out.

Every time you switch between tasks, your brain has to play catch-up. That switching takes energy and time, even if it’s only for a second.

The more distracted you are, the longer everything takes. And the more frustrated you feel.

Real focus is where the magic happens. When you protect it—by turning off distractions and giving one task your full attention—you get way more done in way less time.

#7 –  Look Back So You Can Move Forward

Before jumping into a new week, take a few minutes to look back at the one you just had.

Ask yourself what worked. What didn’t? What felt good? What felt off?

When you pause to reflect, you give yourself the chance to learn. You start to see patterns—like when you were most focused or what kept throwing you off.

Without looking back, it’s easy to keep repeating the same things that aren’t helping. But when you check in with yourself, you can make small changes that really add up.

This isn’t about being hard on yourself. It’s about being honest so you can feel more in control of your time, one week at a time.

Okay, now that you know the 7 time management strategies for improved productivity, let me share the story of a coaching client.

Becoming a Smarter Accountant: Using Better Time Management Strategies

When one particular client first reached out, she was feeling completely drained. She’d been working 60+ hours a week during tax season and still felt like she was falling behind. Her days were packed, but everything felt urgent. 

She described it as “running in circles with my hair on fire.” She’d start each day with a plan, but as soon as the emails and interruptions began, her whole plan would go out the window. By the end of each day, she was exhausted, frustrated, and questioning whether she was even cut out for this career long-term.

She told me, “I don’t even know where my time is going. I’m always working, but my to-do list keeps growing.” She didn’t realize how much her brain was working against her—falling for urgency, avoiding discomfort, and telling her she had to do everything perfectly and all at once.

Thankfully, after going through The Smarter Accountant Programs, everything changed. She started managing her mind, not just her time. She realized that “I’m so busy” was a thought she didn’t have to keep thinking—and that one shift alone helped her calm down and focus more during the day.

She learned how to plan her time in a way that matched how her brain worked. She started using a simple weekly time audit and began to see what was really stealing her time, like constant Slack messages and perfectionism. She stopped multitasking, set clearer boundaries with her team, and finally felt in charge of her schedule again.

Now, she ends her day feeling accomplished instead of depleted. She’s still busy—tax season is still tax season—but she no longer feels like she’s drowning in it. She even told me, “This is the first time I’ve gotten through a deadline without losing sleep or snapping at my kids.”

She didn’t need a new app or another productivity hack—she needed a new way to think about her time. And once she got that, everything else fell into place.

And that brings us to the most important takeaway from today’s episode.

Key Takeaway and Action Item

The key takeaway is that being productive isn’t about doing more—it’s about thinking differently. Once you understand how your brain is wired, you can stop working against it and start working smarter.

For this week, ask yourself, “Am I letting my brain run my day, or am I deciding how I want to spend my time?”

The truth is that your brain will always want the easy, familiar route—like checking email 50 times or avoiding that one project that feels uncomfortable. But when you make the decisions ahead of time, instead of letting your brain take the wheel in the moment, everything shifts. 

You stop spinning in urgency, and you start making real progress on the things that actually matter to you. That’s where real productivity begins.

Pulling Back the Curtain

Pulling back the curtain for a moment…

I used to be the queen of checking things off a list. I’d have a jam-packed calendar, a full to-do list, and a head full of good intentions. I genuinely thought I was doing everything right. I was organized, I was responsible, and I was proud of how much I could juggle at once.

But at the end of the day? I still felt behind. I’d shut my laptop, only to feel that nagging sense that something had been missed, or that I hadn’t done enough.

I thought maybe I just needed to push harder. Start earlier. Stay later. Hustle more. That’s what I had seen other professionals do. That’s what I thought “success” looked like. But all that really did was leave me feeling burnt out and kind of resentful. I was doing everything I was supposed to do—but it never felt like it was working.

And it wasn’t just work that was affected. I’d come home physically present, but mentally I was somewhere else—still replaying a meeting or running through what I needed to do tomorrow. I was so used to operating in go-mode that I didn’t know how to turn it off.

It wasn’t until I started learning how my brain actually works—how it handles time, how it defaults to urgency, how it tries to avoid anything that feels hard or uncertain—that I started seeing the real problem.

I didn’t need more hours. I needed a new approach.

That’s what these seven strategies are really about. They’re not just time management tips—they’re about managing your mind so you can finally stop spinning and start making real progress.

If you’ve been feeling like you’re always behind, I just want you to know—there’s nothing wrong with you. You don’t need to be more disciplined or tougher on yourself. You just need to learn how to work with your brain instead of against it.

That’s exactly what I help accountants do every single day. So if this episode hit home and you’re ready to take back control of your time, schedule a free 30-minute call with me at www.thesmarteraccountant.com/calendar.

And if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to take The Smarter Accountant Quiz. It’s a simple first step that could shift everything.  It only takes 5 minutes and you can take it at www.thesmarteraccountant.com.

Lastly, if this episode helped you, it would mean so much if you shared it with another accountant. So many of us are struggling in silence, and one small share might be exactly what someone else needs to hear today.

The truth is, you’re already smart. But this podcast will show you how to be smarter.