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The start of the year is a marathon for public accountants, and like any race, training beforehand is critical. The off season is your opportunity to reset and build the habits that will carry you through the spring. Here are six ways to prepare before the next busy season begins.
1. Build a Routine
It can be beneficial to use the off season to establish routines that you can maintain when things get hectic. Think about your mornings, your workday, and how you spend time after work. The off season is a good time to experiment and find a routine that works best for your life. Solidify what works now, so come January, your days are already planned out for you.
Creating a routine will help make your decisions automatic. Research consistently shows that routines reduce decision fatigue. This can be a game-changer when you're juggling dozens of client files and approaching a hard deadline.
2. Prioritize Sleep
Sleep is one of the biggest things that can get disrupted during busy season. The off season is your chance to recover and to build better sleep habits before it’s go-time again. This includes winding down screen time earlier in the evening and keeping a consistent sleep schedule (even on weekends). Treat sleep as a non-negotiable part of your productivity strategy, not a luxury.
Chronic sleep deprivation affects cognitive performance, increases mistakes in detailed work, and contributes to burnout that won’t be fixed with one good night of sleep. Spend the off season building these sleep habits now so they are natural to you in the spring.
3. Invest in Your Physical Health
Exercise is a well-documented solution to burnout, but it can be hard to start a new workout routine in the middle of Q1. Check out new workout classes or explore a new gym you might want to join. The specific activity you choose doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a type of movement you actually enjoy.
Regular exercise boosts neurochemicals, sharpens cognitive function, and reduces the emotional exhaustion that contributes to burnout. All of these benefits will help you perform your best during the spring. Use the off season to integrate movement into your daily life so it’s already engrained in your lifestyle come January.
4. Take Care of Your Mental Health
The off season is the time to address your mental health proactively, not reactively when the burnout hits. If therapy has been on your radar, find a therapist and get into a rhythm before things get busy.
Outside of therapy, make sure you have a good support system in place. This can include talking to friends that you know will listen to your struggles, or even networking with coworkers who will be in the same position as you. Leaning on each other during tough times can make things easier to handle.
It’s also important to see what your company may offer for mental health benefits. Most firms have an Employee Assistance Program, which can include counseling sessions. Some firms also provide access to wellbeing apps, such as Calm and Headspace–if they do, access is part of your compensation for your hard work, so don’t pass them up.
5. Upgrade Your Office Space
Your environment shapes your performance more than you might think. One study found that 83 percent of people agree their office space directly affects their productivity, and neuroscience research confirms that physical clutter competes for attention in your brain, which can reduce focus and increase mental fatigue.
The off season is your window to actually do something about it. That standing desk you've been meaning to buy? Order it now and spend a few weeks adding it into your day. The reorganization you keep putting off? Tackle it while you have the bandwidth to think clearly about what an efficient setup looks like for you. Even small changes like clearing clutter from your desk and improving lighting in your office can have a meaningful impact on your concentration during the busy season.
6. Actually Use Your PTO
This one sounds obvious, but a study done by CNBC shows that nearly a quarter of Americans don’t utilize all of their PTO. PTO is a benefit you receive for your hard work, so you are entitled to use it–and you should.
Unplugging from work will help you prevent burnout and exhaustion. Think of your brain like a battery. You’ll need to be at 100 percent for Q1, so spend the off season recharging. You don't need an elaborate trip to benefit. A few long weekends, a week somewhere you've wanted to go, or even a staycation focused on genuine rest can meaningfully bring you back to baseline. Anything that will help you not arrive at the busy season already feeling drained.
The beginning of the year is always going to be busy and stressful in public accounting, but how you prepare in the months before can really make a difference. Building routines, catching up on sleep, staying active, tending to your mental health, cleaning up your workspace, and actually taking your PTO are critical parts to the foundation of a healthy career in accounting.
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