Stop Wishing Your Life Away

Climber standing atop mountain with another in distanceLearn to appreciate the joy that comes from and surrounds the work.

By Bill Reeb

We spend about 99.7 percent (statistic totally fabricated but the phrase “vast majority” would certainly apply) of our time en route to some objective. If you can find happiness, serenity or a feeling of success only when you arrive at your intended destinations, then you are destined to be unhappy or feeling unsuccessful almost all of the time.

MORE: Determining Your Desires Should Be an Active Process | A Clear Direction Provides You a Sanity Check | Refining Desire | Roadblocks from People with Good Intentions | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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I remember my wife and I vacationing in Puerto Rico many years ago. We decided to go to the El Yunque National Forest Reserve and walk up to the top of one of the El Yunque mountains. Given that we like to hike, this was not a difficult climb because it was only about five miles roundtrip on a paved path.
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Determining Your Desires Should Be an Active Process

woman ladder binoculars city view outlook vision success climb AdobeStock_57204649.jpegBONUS: A flowchart of desire.

By Bill Reeb

I believe that every day, in a way, we do exactly what we want to do or what we desire. For instance, you might be frustrated by your present weight, but if you don’t change your eating habits or exercise regimen, then you clearly do not desire to lose weight.

MORE: A Clear Direction Provides You a Sanity Check | Don’t Let Inertia Determine Your Direction | What Does ‘Getting Stuck’ or ‘Being Stuck’ Mean? | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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Another idea that complicates determining what we want, which is far more subtle and complex, is that we subconsciously or consciously suppress many of our desires.
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A Clear Direction Provides You a Sanity Check

Upward arrows illustrating being on or off trackWhen new ideas arise, ask how they fit.

By Bill Reeb

Without clear direction, every alternative seems like an opportunity. With direction comes a course of action, whether that is to preserve what you have or achieve something different. Knowing what direction you want to head will drive the creation of a plan. And the greatest benefit of planning is that it provides you with a sanity check to know when you are drifting off course.

MORE: Don’t Let Inertia Determine Your Direction | Know Where You Are Running To | Refining Desire | What Does ‘Getting Stuck’ or ‘Being Stuck’ Mean? | Let Go of What You Think You Know | Roadblocks from People with Good Intentions | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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Regardless of whether we are talking about your personal life, career or business, I believe it is nearly impossible to get to your desired destination (accomplish your goals) in a straight line. We end up straying from our original course because of mistakes we make along the way, opportunities (detours) we see that we can’t pass up, or just having to deal with the chaos that permeates our lives.
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Don’t Let Inertia Determine Your Direction

Train tracks going both ahead and off to leftYou DO get to choose.

By Bill Reeb

Inertia can be like drifting, which actually describes what many people do. What I mean is, many people just do more of what they did yesterday to keep afloat, or robotically attempt the next incremental step forward from where they are right now. It is as if they are treading water working hard throughout life and just letting the current take them wherever it is going.

MORE: Know Where You Are Running To | Refining Desire | What Does ‘Getting Stuck’ or ‘Being Stuck’ Mean? | Let Go of What You Think You Know | Roadblocks from People with Good Intentions | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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The breakdown in this approach is that it presumes you are exactly where you want to be right now, and that the current is going in the direction you want to go. Overachievers often find themselves in this predicament: working hard treading water going with the current without a clear direction in mind.
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Know Where You Are Running To

Businessman crossing finish line after leaping hurdlesDo you have a goal or just a speed?

By Bill Reeb

If you decide you want to make some changes, that’s great.

MORE: Refining Desire | What Does ‘Getting Stuck’ or ‘Being Stuck’ Mean? | Let Go of What You Think You Know | Roadblocks from People with Good Intentions | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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But before you start running away from whatever it is that you don’t like, make sure you know what you are running toward.

Consider this scenario…

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Refining Desire

Businesswoman at crossroads, facing two pathsIf you can’t use your time and apply your energy on your highest priority items, what does that disconnect say?

By Bill Reeb

Having a desire for something is the first step in your process. Once you have identified what is important to you, the desire step then includes creating

  • a plan,
  • plan tactics,
  • a realistic timeline and
  • reasonable expectations.

MORE: What Does ‘Getting Stuck’ or ‘Being Stuck’ Mean? | Let Go of What You Think You Know | Roadblocks from People with Good Intentions | 3 Ways to Get ‘Unstuck’
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My approach is to immediately start introducing you to a variety of techniques, each followed by a short exercise that will ask you to assess how you are performing as well as how you might apply the technique to help maintain or start building momentum toward your objective. These techniques are focused on helping you discover what you want to achieve.
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When the Inmates Are Running the Asylum

Crazy doesn’t get better by adding more crazy.

By Dom Cingoranelli

“We can’t really enforce this because we don’t want to risk having him (or her) quit.”

I can’t tell you how many times we hear something to this effect when we talk with CPAs. We hear this at small firms and we hear it at large firms. We hear it from partners, from directors, and from managers. It doesn’t matter what size firm they’re in, nor does it matter what level or position they hold.

It’s always the same line. It reminds me of the old adage, “the inmates are running the asylum.” And, it raises the question of who actually is running the firm. Who’s in charge?

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The Two Most Common Management Styles

Senior businessman with his team at officeDo CPA firms need management or leadership?

By Bill Reeb and Dominic Cingoranelli

Let’s start out with a straightforward question. What is the difference between management and leadership?

MORE ON PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: 8 Ways to Manage Clients | The Limitations of Rainmakers | Firms Only Grow When Partners Play Their Roles | The Four Basic Parts of CPA Firm Partner Agreements | Younger Partners See Succession Differently | How to Compensate Your Managing Partner | The Job of Managing Partner: Empowered or Emasculated? | How the Best Managing Partners Turn Ideas into Reality
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From one point of view, leadership is far different than management.
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8 Ways to Manage Clients

Two men shaking hands across a tableThis is Job 1 for the practice owner.

By Bill Reeb and Dominic Cingoranelli

Whether you simply desire to improve your firm’s operations or identify and implement a new long-term strategy, you need to be clear about the role that the owners, partners or shareholders should be playing in your firm.

MORE ON PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: The Limitations of Rainmakers | Different Roles for Different Partners | How Big ‘Books’ Hurt Firms | Developing a Three-Year Vision [VIDEO] | More Merger Questions Than You Imagined | MPs: How to Elect Them … and Fire Them | Partners as Role Models: The Good, Bad & Ugly | Managing the Managing Partner
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To be sure, the roles and responsibilities of a CPA firm owner or owners will vary from firm to firm, based on that firm’s needs and circumstances, and you need to adapt any recommendations to fit your firm’s situation.
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The Limitations of Rainmakers

Young man under rain-covered umbrellaWhy marketing has to permeate the firm and the process.

By Bill Reeb and Dominic Cingoranelli

For most firms, new business comes in through referral. Therefore, the bigger a partner’s client base, the more likely that partner will bring in new business – which simply means that the more clients a partner knows, the more referrals that partner is likely to receive (not in percentage, but in raw numbers).

MORE ON PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: Different Roles for Different Partners | Dealing With A-D Clients (You Know Who We Mean) | How Small ‘Books’ Hurt Firms | Why the Partner Agreement Matters | Merging for the Wrong Reasons | How to Implement Strategy, Step by Step | Accountability Requires Clear Expectations | How Retirement Issues Affect Succession Planning | How Partner Ratings Factor Into Equity
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Other drivers of referral success are long-standing service (seniority) and position in the firm (such being one of the named or senior partners). In these cases, there is an extended opportunity for referral simply because:
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