Two important parts of having a balanced accounting career are mindfulness and self-confidence. Being able to focus on your task at hand is important for meeting deadlines. Self-confidence is required for when you hit low points in your career and need encouragement to keep going. Learn how you can incorporate mindfulness and enhance your self-confidence to maintain balance in your accounting career.

How To Keep Balance In Your Career

1. Sharpen Your Focus

Practicing mindfulness lets you increase your focus. When you try to do too many things at once, your brain cannot fully pay attention to anything. Since it’s designed to process data one thought at a time, your brain takes four times longer to recognize something new when you move back and forth among tasks. By implementing mindfulness into your everyday routine, you increase your ability to focus on completing one task at a time. Increasing your efficiency and effectiveness reduces the time it takes to accomplish your work.

2. Practice Mindfulness Exercises 

Mindful Observation and Game of Fives are two mindfulness exercises perfect for accountants. Mindful Observation is designed to connect you with the beauty of the natural environment. Choose a natural organism, such as a flower, insect or tree, and focus on it for one to two minutes. Look at the organism as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Your goal is to notice it and just be. Similarly, the object of Game of Fives is to notice five things throughout the day that typically go unnoticed and unappreciated. Examples include your office walls, how your clothes feel on your skin or how the flowers in the park smell. Explore the wonder, impact and possibilities these things give you. Fully experience them.

3. Focus on Your Successes

Cultivating self-confidence includes focusing on your successes. Think about the times where you set an intention and achieved the desired results. Perhaps you graduated from the university of your choice, earned your CPA designation or secured the accounting job you wanted. These examples give you strong reasons to feel confident. When you need encouragement, simply make a list of your accomplishments to reinstate your feeling of confidence.

4. Accept Bumps in Your Career Path

Because you’ll face challenges in your accounting career, resolve to overcome them. Remember the success stories of famous people who overcame adversity to become successful. Henry Ford went bankrupt before making it big with Ford Motor Company. Walt Disney’s first boss told him he lacked imagination. Elvis Presley was fired after his first performance and told to go back to driving a truck. When you’re feeling frustrated about your career, remind yourself that successful people continue moving forward on their way to success.

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