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Inside, I break down 7 common time drains accountants deal with, what your brain has to do with it, and what you can start thinking differently so you’re not ending the day feeling frustrated and unfinished.

If that sounds like something you need, you can grab your copy at thesmarteraccountant.com/cheat-sheet. It’s free, and it’s really helpful.

Alright—let’s talk about something I know so many accountants deal with: that weird feeling like you’re not in charge of your day.

You’ve got a plan. You’ve got a list. But then something small—an email, a craving, a client request—suddenly takes over. And before you know it, the day feels like it’s running you.

That’s what we’re getting into today: feeling more in control. Because when you don’t feel in control, everything feels harder.

For example, you want to stop working at a certain time… but keep going. You want to focus on one thing… but keep bouncing. You tell yourself “no more scrolling”… and then catch yourself doing it again.

It’s like your brain has its own plans, and you’re just along for the ride.

That used to be me. I’d finish a full day of work, check a bunch of things off my list, and still feel like I was behind. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so off when I was getting so much done.

Turns out, control isn’t about doing more—it’s about how you feel while you’re doing it. And whether you’re making decisions on purpose or reacting without thinking.

When your day feels like one long reaction, it’s draining. You lose focus. Everything starts to feel heavier than it should.

And let’s not forget the guilt. You say you’re not going to check your email every five minutes, or you promise you’ll stop working at six, and then you don’t. That voice in your head gets louder: “See? You can’t even stick to this.”

But what if none of that had to mean anything bad about you? What if you weren’t weak… and just needed a different way to think about what’s happening?

That’s what we’re talking about today. No tricks. No pressure. Just something simple that can honestly shift how your whole day feels—one urge at a time.

What Urges Are and Why They Matter

Let’s start by talking about urges—those little nudges your brain sends that can totally throw off your day.

They can show up fast and strong, like a tiny voice saying, “Check your email,” “Grab a snack,” or “Say yes, even though you’re already swamped.”

And even though they seem like they come out of nowhere, they don’t. They’re actually sentences in your brain that create emotions that show up in your body.

Maybe you feel your chest tighten. Maybe your leg starts bouncing. Maybe you get that restless feeling that makes it hard to sit still or focus.

That’s your brain doing what it’s been trained to do. Most urges are tied to something it has learned over time—like when you feel stressed and your brain says, “Let’s fix this fast.”

So you check your email. Or grab your phone. Or reach for something to eat. And your brain goes, “Whew, that’s better.”

That tiny moment of relief creates what’s called a habit loop. It tells your brain, “That worked, let’s do it again next time.”

And the more that loop gets repeated, the stronger it becomes—even if it’s not actually helping you.

This is something most accountants were never taught to notice. We were told to work harder. Push through. Be more disciplined.

And maybe that works for a while… until you hit a wall. Until you’re too tired, too busy, or just too frustrated—and your primitive brain takes the wheel.

The truth is, fighting urges all day is exhausting. And the more you try to ignore them or push them away, the louder they tend to get.

Even though you can’t outwork an urge, you can learn to let it show up without acting on it.

That’s the shift. And it’s one that makes a big difference.

It might sound a little strange at first, but learning how to allow an urge without doing anything is a real skill. One that can totally change how you move through your day.

Let’s talk about what’s going on in your brain when an urge shows up, so you can start to see it a little differently.

The Brain Science Behind Urges

Your brain is built to help you feel better fast. That’s its thing.

It doesn’t care about your calendar or long-term plans. It cares about comfort—and it wants it now.

That’s where dopamine comes in. It’s the feel-good chemical your brain releases when something seems rewarding.

So let’s say you’re feeling stressed and you check your email. Your brain goes, “Ahh, that worked,” and gives you a little dopamine boost.

It’s tiny, but it’s enough to make your brain say, “Let’s do that again next time.”

And that’s how a habit starts. Your brain remembers what gave it relief, and it wants to repeat it.

Each time you give in to an urge, you make that habit loop stronger. It’s like walking the same trail over and over—it gets clearer and easier to follow.

The tricky part is, your brain thinks it’s helping. Even if the habit isn’t helpful, it still feels good in the moment.

But here’s the good news: your brain can change. You’re not stuck with the old trail.

It doesn’t take willpower. It takes awareness.

When you feel an urge and don’t act on it, you interrupt the loop. You teach your brain, “We’re doing something new now.”

At first, it might not like that. The urge might feel stronger. That’s normal.

But if you keep allowing it without reacting, your brain starts to quiet down. It stops pushing so hard.

And the more you allow, the less urgent the urges feel. Your brain starts to learn that it doesn’t need the reward to be okay.

You start to feel more in charge. Not because the urges go away completely—but because they stop running the show.

Now that you know what’s going on in your brain, I want to explain how the 100 urges process works, and why it’s such a helpful way to build real control.

How the 100 Urge Process Works

Let’s talk about what it actually means to allow an urge—because it’s not about stopping it or pushing it away.

It’s about letting the feeling show up, noticing it in your body, and deciding not to react.

That might look like this: you feel the urge to check your email, grab your phone, or say yes to something you don’t want to do. You pause, take a breath, and tell yourself, “This is just a feeling. I don’t have to act on it.”

You might feel it in your chest. Or your arms. Or that strong pull to do something right away. That’s all normal.

You don’t need to fix it or make it go away. You just stay with it for a few seconds.

That’s what allowing looks like. No big drama. Just staying with the feeling and letting it pass on its own.

The 100 urges idea is about turning this into a small daily practice—one urge at a time. And if 100 feels like too much right now, start with 10. You can always build from there.

Here’s are some quick steps to start allowing urges:

1 – Notice the urge

Pause when you feel pulled to do something out of habit—like checking email, grabbing a snack, or reacting quickly.

2 – Name it

Say to yourself, “This is just an urge.” That simple sentence helps create space.

3 – Feel it in your body

Where is it showing up—tight chest, racing thoughts, fidgeting? No need to change it. Just notice.

4 – Take one slow breath

Remind yourself, “I don’t have to do anything right now.”

5 – Let it pass

Most urges fade in less than 90 seconds when you don’t react to them.

6 – Track it

If you allowed the urge without acting, give yourself credit. Check off a box or mark it somewhere. Tracking it will help you reach whatever goal you set and it will help you rewire your brain.

7 – Keep going

If you gave in, it’s okay. You don’t count that one. No guilt—just try again next time.

That’s all this is. One urge at a time. You don’t need to do anything perfectly—you just need to practice.

And once you’ve allowed even 10 urges, you’ll start to notice a shift. You’ll feel a little steadier. A little more in charge.

By the time you reach 100, your brain will be in a whole new place.

Now I want to show you what this looked like for a coaching client of mine. Her story might sound familiar.

Becoming a Smarter Accountant: Allowing 100 Urges

One of my coaching clients came to me feeling like her workdays were running her—not the other way around. She was smart, hardworking, great with clients… but she felt completely out of control.

She told me she was checking her email constantly. Not just a few times a day—every few minutes. Half the time, she didn’t even notice she was doing it.

She always felt behind, like something was slipping through the cracks. And even when she wasn’t behind, she still felt that pressure.

She blamed herself. She kept saying, “If I could just stop checking, I’d be fine.” She thought it was a discipline problem.

But when we started working together, it became clear it wasn’t really about the email.

It was the urge to check it whenever she felt anxious. Her brain had made that connection—stress pops up, email gives relief. That became her loop.

At first, she didn’t think allowing the urge without checking would make a difference. But she agreed to try it once a day. Just once.

She’d notice the urge, take a breath, and do nothing.

She started to see it for what it was—a little ripple in her body that passed quicker than she expected. It wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t an emergency.

Little by little, she stopped reacting. She trusted her planned email time was enough. Her calendar felt doable again.

She said to me, “I feel like I finally have my brain back.”

She didn’t turn into a robot. She still felt stress. She still had urges. But now she understood what was happening—and didn’t panic when they showed up.

She wasn’t stuck in the same loop anymore. She was aware of what was going on.

And that changed everything.

Key Takeaway and Action Item

The key takeaway from this episode is that you don’t have to fight urges. That’s not the answer.

You just need to understand what they are and what your brain is trying to do when they show up.

Once you start noticing them instead of reacting to them, everything starts to shift. Even allowing one or two can remind you that you’re not stuck.

You’re capable of showing up in a new way. And you don’t need to do it perfectly for it to make a difference.

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

“What urge do I usually give in to that I’m willing to allow today instead?”

That one small moment of awareness might be all you need to take your day in a better direction.

So much of the pressure accountants feel doesn’t come from the work itself. It comes from feeling like we’re not in control of how we’re showing up to it.

When you learn to allow urges instead of reacting to them, you start to build something that no calendar or planner can give you—real self-trust.

You start to see that you don’t have to be pulled around by your day. You get to decide how you show up to it.

And the more you practice allowing urges, the easier it gets. It becomes less about willpower and more about awareness.

Pulling Back the Curtain

Pulling back the curtain for a moment…

There was a time in my life when I didn’t realize how often I was reacting to urges. Little things—like checking email when I felt anxious, grabbing a snack when I was overwhelmed, or staying up late working because I felt behind.

And what’s interesting is that I was still getting things done. I was still checking boxes, showing up, being productive. But inside I felt completely out of control.

It was like I was following this invisible script all day long—without even realizing I was doing it. And the part that hit me the hardest was when I realized how normal it had all started to feel.

I remember one afternoon—I had blocked time for something important, but I kept checking email. Every few minutes. I’d tell myself, “Just one quick look,” and then 30 minutes would go by. I wasn’t even aware of the urge anymore. I had become the urge.

That’s when I realized: productivity isn’t the same thing as control. I could be efficient and still feel totally hijacked by my brain.

Learning to allow urges—actually feel them without giving in—was uncomfortable at first. But once I got the hang of it, everything started to shift. I wasn’t constantly pulled in a hundred directions. I could feel an urge and just… breathe. Wait. Let it pass.

It felt like I was finally in the driver’s seat. Not fighting myself, not trying to be perfect—just noticing, choosing, and moving forward with more intention.

And that’s why I teach this to the accountants I coach. Because this one mental skill—allowing urges—has the power to make you feel calm, focused, and genuinely in control, even when the work is intense.

If this episode hit home and you’re ready to feel more in control of your time, your focus, or even just your brain during the day, I invite you to take The Smarter Accountant Quiz at www.thesmarteraccountant.com.

It’s a quick and insightful way to uncover the real reasons your day might feel harder than it needs to be.

And if you’re ready to take back control but aren’t sure where to start, book a free 30-minute call with me at www.thesmarteraccountant.com/calendar. We’ll talk through what’s happening, what your brain’s doing, and how to make things easier.

And if you’ve been enjoying this podcast, I’d be so grateful if you shared it with another accountant. Most of us were never taught this stuff—and the more we spread the word, the more we can change what it means to be successful in this profession.

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