Before I get started I just wanted to mention that if you haven’t downloaded The Smarter Accountant’s Cheat Sheet For Better Time Management, you’re missing out.

See if you can relate to any of these typical issues: Never having enough time, things taking way longer than planned, procrastinating even when you know better, not knowing what to focus on first, never feeling done at the end of the day, getting interrupted all day long or your inbox is controlling your day.

If any of those resonate with you, I suggest downloading the cheat sheet because for each issue, I give you the Smarter Solution – what to do and why.  You can simply download the cheat sheet at https://thesmarteraccountant.com/cheat-sheet/

Okay, let’s get started with this week’s show…

You know that feeling when another year is coming to an end, and you’re already thinking, “Next year has to be better than this one”?

I hear that from accountants all the time. You start the year with the best intentions — you’re going to be more organized, more productive, less stressed. You promise yourself you’ll have better boundaries, better balance, and maybe even a little more time for yourself.

But then January turns into March, and suddenly you’re buried under deadlines, emails, client requests, and unexpected “urgent” issues. Your plans slowly slide down the priority list because you’re too busy putting out fires. Before you know it, the year feels like a blur — and you’re left wondering where all that time went.

If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Most accountants I work with feel like they’re running from one urgent thing to the next all year long. They start strong, but by the time tax season hits or a big client project blows up, everything they intended to do differently gets pushed aside.

Here’s the thing: it’s not that you’re not trying hard enough. You are trying. The problem is that most of us were never taught how to plan in a way that actually works with our brains instead of against them.

What I see over and over again is that accountants rely on two things: endless to-do lists and pure willpower. And neither one is enough. A long list of tasks without a real plan creates the illusion of control — but in reality, it leaves your brain overwhelmed and scattered. And willpower? Well, it’s unreliable, especially when you’re exhausted and stretched too thin.

The truth is, if you want next year to feel different, you have to plan differently. Not by cramming more into your schedule or creating unrealistic expectations, but by learning how to create clarity — for your time, your energy, and your focus.

Because here’s the secret: having an easier year isn’t about working harder. It’s about working smarter. It’s about knowing where to focus, what to let go of, and how to plan in a way that actually reduces stress instead of adding to it.

That’s what we’re talking about today — how to start setting yourself up right now so that next year doesn’t feel like this one. You really can have more control, less stress, and more space to breathe… but only if you approach planning the smarter way.

So, let’s dive in.

Why Accountants Struggle to Plan Effectively

Here’s the biggest problem I see: most accountants are planning reactively, not proactively.

And it’s not because you’re not trying — it’s because no one ever really taught you a better way. From the moment you started your career, you were thrown into a profession full of deadlines, moving parts, and constant demands on your time. 

You learned how to get the work done, but no one explained how to actually manage your brain, your energy, and your focus along the way.

So what happens? You rely on endless to-do lists and hope you’ll “figure it out as you go.” You start the week telling yourself, “If I just keep checking things off, I’ll eventually catch up.” 

But here’s the truth: that list never ends. Every time you cross off one thing, three more pop up. Instead of feeling accomplished, you feel like you’re falling further behind.

The other big problem is prioritization — or really, the lack of it. Most accountants don’t have a system for separating what actually matters from what just feels urgent because everything feels urgent. 

Unfortunately, you end up bouncing from email to email, client to client, putting out one fire after another. And at the end of the day, you’re exhausted but still wondering if you spent your time on the right things.

And when you don’t have a clear plan, your brain defaults to survival mode. It’s like your nervous system is constantly on high alert, scanning for the next “urgent” thing to tackle. 

In that state, it’s nearly impossible to think clearly, stay focused, or make strategic decisions.

Here’s what that looks like in real life:

• You’re overworking without real progress. You put in longer and longer hours but still feel behind.
  
• You’re dealing with constant stress and frustration, always reacting instead of feeling in control.
  
• You’re sliding toward burnout before the year is even halfway through, and you start telling yourself, “This is just how accounting is.”
  

But here’s the thing: it’s not you. It’s your system — or more accurately, the lack of one. If your only approach to managing your year is a growing to-do list and a hope that things will magically feel easier, you’re setting yourself up to repeat the same cycle over and over again.

And that’s exactly why the next section is so important — because we’re going to talk about why this cycle is so hard to break and what’s really happening in your brain when planning feels impossible.

Why Accountants Feel Overwhelmed Without a Clear Plan

A chaotic year doesn’t just happen because there’s too much work — it happens because your brain isn’t naturally wired to manage uncertainty well. And in accounting, there’s a lot of uncertainty.

Think about the year ahead: tax deadlines, client demands, audits, quarterly filings, unexpected emails, and last-minute requests. Even with a full calendar, there’s always something new popping up that needs your attention. 

Your brain is constantly being pulled in a dozen directions, and without a clear system, it starts treating everything as equally urgent.  That’s when overwhelm sets in.

Here’s what happens behind the scenes: when your brain doesn’t have a plan, it goes into survival mode. In that state, your nervous system is scanning for danger, interpreting every task, email, and deadline as a potential threat. 

And when your brain thinks you’re under constant pressure, it shifts energy away from your logical, problem-solving prefrontal cortex — the part of your brain that helps you prioritize and make smart decisions.

This is why it feels like you’re always working but rarely moving forward. Instead of focusing on what truly matters, you get caught up reacting to whatever’s loudest in the moment. That constant reaction mode leads to:

• Decision fatigue — the mental exhaustion from having to choose what to do next all day long
  
• Overwhelm — feeling buried under competing demands with no sense of control
  
• Diminished productivity — being busy without making real progress
  

And over time, this cycle adds up. You end the year exhausted, frustrated, and wondering why it feels like the year controlled you instead of the other way around.

The good news is this: there’s nothing wrong with you. This isn’t about working harder or having more discipline — it’s about understanding how your brain works and learning how to plan in a way that aligns with it.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to cover next — the brain science behind why traditional planning fails and how smarter accountants approach planning differently.

The Brain Science Behind Smarter Planning for Accountants

Here’s what most accountants don’t realize: your brain isn’t naturally built to keep you focused and calm — it’s built to keep you safe. And when you don’t give your brain clarity and certainty about what’s important, it defaults to chaos.

That’s why you can start your day with the best intentions, only to find yourself pulled in ten different directions by noon. Your brain is constantly scanning for what feels urgent, not necessarily what matters most. 

This is where so many accountants get stuck — and it’s not a personal failing. It’s biology.

Smarter Accountants have learned how to work with their brains, not against them. They understand a few key truths about how planning really works:

1. The Mere Urgency Effect

Your brain is wired to prioritize tasks that feel urgent — even if they’re not actually important. That’s why you might respond to every email within minutes but put off the bigger, high-impact project that would make a real difference in your workload.

Without a clear plan, urgency wins every time, and you stay stuck in reaction mode.

2. Planning = Less Stress

Most accountants think planning adds more pressure — but the opposite is true when you do it the smarter way. Intentional planning actually reduces mental load because it tells your brain what to focus on and when.

When you decide in advance how you’re spending your time, you remove hundreds of tiny daily decisions, which lowers stress and frees up mental energy.

3. Feelings Drive Follow-Through

This is where most planning methods fail: they ignore emotions. If you don’t plan for how you want to feel while working, you won’t stick to the plan.

For example, if a task requires focus but you’re feeling anxious or rushed, your brain will resist doing it. Smarter accountants decide in advance not just what they’re doing, but how they want to feel while doing it — calm, confident, focused, or determined.

The goal here isn’t to cram more into your calendar or squeeze productivity out of every second. It’s to create a plan that makes your year easier, not harder.

And I want to show you what this looks like in real life. 

What a Smarter Accountant Year Looks Like

I want you to picture what your year could look like if you stopped reacting and started planning the smarter way.

Instead of starting January with big intentions and then watching them slowly fall apart, you’d begin the year with clarity. You’d know what matters most, when you’re going to work on it, and how much time you’re giving yourself to get it done. No more guessing. No more “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

Here’s what that could look like in real life:

• You start each week with a clear plan that aligns with your deadlines, priorities, and energy levels.
  
• You know exactly what needs to happen and when, so you’re not living in constant firefighting mode.
  
• You build in white space — time to think, recharge, and handle unexpected issues — instead of cramming every minute full.
  
• You leave work some days without feeling guilty because you know the most important things are handled.
  
• You stop second-guessing yourself and constantly wondering, “Am I working on the right thing?” because you’ve already decided that in advance.
  

And maybe the biggest difference is that you feel better throughout the year. You’re less overwhelmed, less stressed, and more in control. You’re not trying to outrun your calendar anymore — you’re working with it.

This is what smarter planning does. It gives you the freedom to manage your year instead of letting your year manage you.

And the best part is, it’s not about working harder or cramming more in — it’s about creating a plan that actually works with your brain instead of against it.

In the next section, I want to share a real coaching client’s story — someone who went from constant chaos to finally feeling in control of their time and their year.

Becoming a Smarter Accountant: Turning A Typically Chaotic Year Into An Easier One

I worked with a client who came to me completely burned out.

Every year started the same way for him — he’d set big goals in January, promising himself, “This year, I’m finally going to be ahead of deadlines.” He bought a new planner, blocked off his calendar, and started strong. But by the end of February, the chaos would creep in.

He told me about one week in March where he had three tax returns due, a client calling him at 7 a.m. about an “urgent” issue, and an inbox full of 200 unread emails. He described sitting at his desk late into the night, staring at his screen, too exhausted to think straight, and yet still feeling like he hadn’t done enough.

The worst part was that he felt like he was failing — not just at work, but everywhere. He told me, “I’m missing dinner with my family, I can’t sleep, and no matter how hard I work, I’m always behind.”

When we started working together, we didn’t start by adding more hours or forcing him to “push harder.” We started by changing the way he planned.

He learned how to prioritize based on impact, not urgency. He stopped reacting to every email and started making decisions in advance about where his time and energy would go. We worked on creating weekly plans that included white space — time to think, reset, and handle surprises without everything else falling apart. 

And maybe most importantly, he started paying attention to how he wanted to feel before diving into his work.

Fast forward to the end of that year, and he was a completely different person. He was leaving the office on time most days. He stopped constantly checking his email because he trusted his plan. Even during busy season, he felt calmer and more in control.

What surprised him most wasn’t the fact that he got more done — it was that he felt better doing it. He told me, “For the first time in years, I feel like I’m leading my year instead of chasing it.”

That’s the power of planning the smarter way. You don’t have to change your workload overnight — you change the way you approach it, and everything else follows.

And his story isn’t unique. I see this transformation happen all the time when accountants learn how to plan in a way that works with their brains instead of against them.

And that brings us to the big takeaway from today’s episode — a few key reminders that can help you start setting yourself up for an easier, more intentional year right now.

Key Takeaway and Action Item

When you plan the wrong way — relying on endless to-do lists, reacting to whatever feels urgent, and hoping you’ll “figure it out as you go” — it leads to chaos. That’s when the year starts running you instead of you running the year.

But when you plan the smarter way, everything shifts. You create clarity about what matters most, focus on the work that moves the needle, and build balance into your year instead of trying to squeeze more in.

And remember, this isn’t about working harder or pushing yourself to do more. Your brain doesn’t need more effort — it needs structure. 

When you create a clear plan that works with your brain instead of against it, you reduce stress, make better decisions, and finally feel more in control of your time and your year.

If you want to start applying this today, here’s a question to ask yourself:

“Am I planning in a way that gives my brain clarity — or am I leaving it to figure things out as I go?”

How you answer that will give you insight into why your year has felt harder than it needs to be — and where you have the opportunity to do things differently.

And before we wrap up, I want to share a personal story from my own experience — a time when I learned firsthand just how much smarter planning can change everything.

Pulling Back the Curtain

Pulling back the curtain…

I’ll be honest with you — I didn’t always plan the smarter way.

I still remember one particular year when I thought I had everything under control. I had a long to-do list, a fresh calendar I had asked for for Christmas, and what I thought was a solid plan. But by February, I was already behind. By March, I was drowning.

I was working late nights and weekends, saying yes to everything, and constantly putting out fires. I kept telling myself, “If I just work a little harder, I’ll catch up.” 

But the harder I worked, the further behind I felt. I ended that year completely exhausted and frustrated, wondering why it always felt like my year was running me instead of me running it.

I remember complaining to my husband that I definitely didn’t end the year the way I had hoped.  That’s when I decided to do things differently. Instead of just relying on a growing to-do list and hoping I’d figure it out as I went, 

I learned about how my brain works when it comes to time management and I started intentionally planning. I got clear on my priorities. I made decisions about my time in advance. And maybe most importantly, I started paying attention to how I wanted to feel while getting things done.

The difference was incredible. I still had deadlines, clients, and unexpected challenges — but I wasn’t in constant reaction mode anymore. 

I had space to breathe. I had clarity on what mattered most. And for the first time in a long time, I ended the year feeling accomplished instead of drained.

My husband even commented at the end of that year that I seemed like a different person.  I was happier and much less stressed than he had ever seen me.

That’s why I’m so passionate about helping accountants plan smarter — because I’ve been on both sides of it. I know what it feels like to be stuck in chaos, and I know how powerful it is when you finally take back control of your time, your energy, and your year.

If you want next year to feel easier, I want to help you get started:

• Take The Smarter Accountant Quiz at www.thesmarteraccountant.com to find out where you’re getting stuck and what you can do differently.
  
• Schedule your free 30-minute call at www.thesmarteraccountant.com/calendar, and we’ll talk through your specific challenges and what smarter planning could look like for you.
  
• And if this episode helped you, please share it with another accountant who could use a little relief heading into next year.
  

Because the truth is, planning smarter isn’t just about getting more done — it’s about making your year easier, calmer, and more intentional. You deserve that.

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