Document or Review any Personal Goals Lately?

I found it interesting that the average American spends less than 1 hour a year documenting their personal goals and reviewing them. That is because most people do not even document their goals!! (Source: Day-Planners)

So, the average American spends more time biting their fingernails in any year than reviewing their goals.

If you do not have any long-term goals documented ..... I will promise you one thing -- you will have a much better chance of NOT meeting them!

The CPA Exam - More Than Just a Test

Click title above that links to the article we wrote about how passing the CPA exam can be a major learning experience ... much more than just a "test".

Do Accountants Lie? 1 Sign .....

The answer is a resounding YES!

Per Paul Ekman, author of Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, the average person lies 3 times for every 10 minutes of conversation. That statistic is pretty daunting. So if I talk to the "average person" for 10 minutes, there will be 3 lies .... no actually 6, if I am also like the "average person"?!!

Now maybe the "average accountant" is better at not lying than the "average person." I'd like to think so. We have strong ethical codes and guidelines we have to follow, and hopefully most accountants are qualified for their integrity upon entering any organization.

But have you ever caught a colleague lying, a client lying, or even yourself lying? Chances are the answers are yes to all three questions.

Below is one typical sign sign of a liar. In future posts we'll discuss:

(1) Other signs

(2) How you can become better at "not lying" all the time, including eliminating the "little white lies". The first tip will be one you can probably guess right now -- you have to WANT to become better at this.

Liars typically provides MORE details - When you are lying you are lying to yourself and the other person. You have to convince BOTH and liars struggle with silence because they must talk them-self through the lie at the same time they are talking you through the lie. Thus, if they are silent they are only listening to their own lie and they also feel like you may be listening (even though you can't) and in an effort to "prove" their lie, they will overindulge in the details of that lie so you both will be over-convinced.

Isn't learning about lying FUN?!

What "Labors" You?

Since it is the Labor Day holiday, maybe it is appropriate to focus on your work. I know, I know. Many specifically do not want to focus on work this weekend!

But maybe there is some value in asking yourself two questions:

1.) What is the most laborious thing you do at your job? (What is the one thing you do that you like the least?)

2.) What is the one thing you do at your job that you LOVE?

I know most accountants feel like their job descriptions are set in stone, but that simply is not the case. You have no doubt noticed some at your organization who have excelled even when there may be only one or two things that they do REALLY well. But they do them really well, probably because they also really enjoy doing them. What is the one thing you do well and love ... and how do you do it more? Oh yea, and that one thing you like the least, how do you do that less? Sounds too simple, doesn't it? It's not if you decide to be intentional about doing what you are good at and love.

Brett Favre's Secret

Even if you aren't a football fan chances are you know who Brett Favre is. Now he is coming back again out of retirement to quarterback the Minnesota Vikings. In his first press conference he took the mic and the press probably wanted to grill him! Here is a guy who has repeatedly said he was retired only to change his mind. He was also about to play for one of the Green Bay Packers' (his first team) biggest rivals.

So what did Brett say in the press conference that may have had a small effect on the reporters and also reminded some of his fans why they like him, and why they root for him? Here is an excerpt...

Another thing I forgot to mention was that when I said no earlier to Coach Childress and Coach Frasier, my 10-year old daughter who was neutral in this whole deal. So I asked her, “What do you want to do daddy?” She said, “Whatever you want to do daddy.” I said, “That’s a good answer but what do you want me to do?” She wouldn’t say until after the news broke and she started crying as we sat on our back porch. Anybody who has children, I can be chased by five defensive linemen and that doesn’t scare me but when my daughter cries it softens me up. She said, “I wanted you to go back and win one more Super Bowl.” I said, “Ugh. Why didn’t you tell me that before? She said I didn’t want to make that decision for you.” It’s amazing what you learn from your children. She said, “Can you go back?” I said, “Too late.” I found myself tearing up this morning as I brought her to school, and she said, ”Daddy, it’s going to be fine. You go up there and do what you got to do. We will be up there soon enough.”

When the opportunity arises, whether it is a business or professional setting .... consider telling your employees stories. They work. Make them personal to you or to them or both if you can. Most people appreciate that. Most people can relate to stories, and maybe most importantly, most people remember them ... and the connection you made!

Dumb down your message

Many accountants (not all) are guilty of tech-speak. We get caught up in the latest acronyms and technical jargon and we do not realize that most of the outside world (including many of our junior and even senior colleagues) have no idea what we are talking about half the time. Sometimes people don't call you on it for many reasons, including the insecurity of believing they SHOULD know what you are talking about....but they don't. The result is costly miscommunication.

(By the way the latest acronym I have heard is "squash" or "SQCS" which is short for Statement on Quality Control Standards which are designed to provide guidance on a organization's internal quality control standards and are issued by the Quality Control Standards Committee, the senior technical committee of the AICPA. Are you kidding me? Squash!?)

We should be more encouraged to consistently dumb down and simplify our messages. If you have ANY doubt that the other person might not know what you are talking about it, you are probably onto something.

What is interesting is many times it is the MOST senior/experienced people that I'll see call others out ... "I have no idea what you just said, could you tell me that again in simpler terms." That takes confidence and lack of insecurity. That takes a desire for effective communication, not effective "I can prove how smart I am in with how much jargon I know" miscommunication.

Unsolicited Positive Remarks

How much do you go "out of your way" to talk about others good traits, characteristics, and performances?

And just maybe sometimes .... it might be good to talk to others "behind the back" of the person you are talking about!

"I was working with Suzy and I tell you what, she knows her stuff. Here is what I mean specifically ...."

"Ted really worked hard on that last project. He made the deadline and the quality of his work was remarkable."

Here is one, maybe unintended, result that happens when you start doing this ... people TRUST you more! That is right -- when you start talking others up, the people you are talking to will trust you more. Think about the opposite approach: When you talk bad about others behind their backs - the people you are saying these things do will pick up on that and realize -- hey this person might do the same thing to me one day! Trust is lowered, even if they agree with you! ... and the same happens when they see you as someone who talks others UP! Trust is raised.

Be on the lookout for positive actions and then TALK TO EVERYBODY about them.

Thank You Emails

The "thank you" email -- There are literally tens of millions of these sent every day. No other information in the email, only a simple thank you.

The main simple and obvious reason I've heard for sending them:

To express gratitude! Than sounds nice!

Do you value the appreciation of others around you expressed in the form of "thank you" emails? Chances are it might sound nice but it really does not resonate. The reason? It is precisely the same as the reason we send them .... it takes no time to do it. We know a hand-written card or a face-to-face gesture takes more time and effort and thus we appreciate that more. So if you want to really express gratitude, do it in a more memorable (but maybe less frequent) way.

Challenge your "thank you" emails all together and see if you don't send out less but do other things, just maybe better things, in their place.