Kicking Your Tax Prep Into Gear

I’ve shared in previous blogs my dread of the annual April deadline for filing taxes.  I struggle with compiling my documents and organizing and totaling my receipts.  Year after year it becomes a weight on my back that I resent carrying around.  I know I create my own misery by being somewhat disorganized.  But today I share some good news.  I finished prepping my taxes with almost a month to spare!

I’m not bragging.  Let me remind you that my accountant actually does the hard job.  I just had to organize all my stuff for him.

But the reason I want to share my progress is because I discovered the secret to getting it done.  Just get started!  This past weekend it became so clear to me that the hard part was just starting.  All that buildup and angst.  For nothing!  Once I started sifting through my credit card statements, the rest followed naturally.  And what was cool is that I actually started to feel good sitting there doing my tax prep.  It’s like I could feel myself making progress and I wanted to keep that good feeling...so I kept going.

I took breaks when I needed them but I literally was “on a roll” and didn’t want to stop.

I don’t know your situation and I’m definitely not a tax planner so I can’t guarantee any results.  I can just say that, from my experience, momentum is your friend when doing something you don’t really like to do.  The key to getting the momentum going is to just start.  Do something related to the task.  Clear your desk.  Pull all of your file folders out of the cabinet.  Do something that will get your brain and body ready to tackle the job.

And if you’re not going to heed this advice, there’s some good news.   You actually have until April 18^th to do your taxes this year.

Have you started working on your taxes yet?