Tag: Time Management

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Juggling Work, School, and Life: My Journey to a Graduate Degree

Hey guys! So, one day, I woke up and thought, “I want to go back to school and finish my graduate degree.” Yep, even though I already have a full-time job. Crazy, right? I even decided to take not one, not two, but three courses each week. Oh, and I managed to pass two big CMA exams in just four months. So, how did I pull this off?

First things first, I had to sort out my schedule. We all have only 24 hours daily, no matter how busy. I spent about two weeks tweaking my daily plans until I found extra hours for my classes.

After figuring that out, I talked to my husband about my big idea. He was worried I might wear myself out, but he was super supportive. He even offered to help out with some chores around the house. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Initially, I decided to take it easy and sign up for two classes each semester. But guess what? I felt bold and bumped it into three courses to finish everything in just two semesters. Yeah, I soon found out that was a big oopsie. Grad school isn’t like undergrad; there’s way more work. I had tons of assignments and papers to write. I even had to take five vacation days from my job to catch up on schoolwork. It’s a good thing it wasn’t the busy end-of-year work season!

Despite the craziness, there were some rules I stuck to:

  1. Keep Running: Believe it or not, I still ran my usual 5K every morning. It’s my ‘me time.’
  2. Don’t Overeat at Night: I had to make sure I could focus on studying and feeling too full would make that hard.
  3. Use Spare Time Wisely: Any extra 15 minutes I had, I used for quick chores. A clean home makes a happy mind.
  4. Be Grateful: I couldn’t have done this without my amazing husband. He’s my rock.

So, after a chaotic but super rewarding year, I survived and thrived. I kept my grades up and even graduated with two honors. I know this was one of the craziest things I did. Whatever your big dream is, go for it. Just ensure you have a solid plan, an excellent support team, and a lot of determination.

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A Gap Analysis to Start a New Year

I do several things around this time of the year; one is to think about my ideal self and my current self. One of the actions I do every year is a gap analysis, and I do this to see how well I am doing to attain my longer, yearly, mid-term goals (generally a few years) and 5-year goals. From the gap analysis, I update my product logs. Then, I try to do sprint projects for a specific product log. It is easy for me to lose the direction of leading myself if I do not compare them with my visions or longer-term goals. Therefore, gap analysis is a great tool.

A gap analysis reveals the size and types of issues we have by identifying the gaps between “as is” and “to be.” This analysis is commonly used in the business world. And I like to use these tools to analyze myself to build my strategies to narrow the gaps.

I like to do this analysis in the early morning because I generate more ideas early in the day. Take a letter-size (A4) page, and write them down. My process is as follows:

(1) Write down the list of ideal states.

You can write down anything you wish to be. Don’t worry about whether you can attain the ideal states or not. Yes, it is generally a good idea to avoid setting unattainable goals, and you want to be as open as possible. If it is not attainable, you should compromise by breaking them down into smaller goals before generating strategies to complete them. Never limit yourself from the start!

(2) Write down the list of current states.

Write down the list of current states relevant to your ideal states listed in the first process. It is crucial to be as honest as possible, and this process can be painful if you have not done gap analysis before. If you cannot see yourself objectively, you can ask your family members, loved ones, or friends.

(3) Identify Actions to attain the ideal states.

Now identify actions to attain the ideal states. If you want to lose weight, you must develop strategies to lose. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to create calories deficiencies by exercising or eating less. The more challenging the goal is, the more milestones you want to make to attain the goal. For example, if you’re going to lose 100lb, you should break down bigger goals into smaller goals such as six lb. per month.

Finally, I list the goals identified in processes one to three above. There are multiple ways to present your GAPs analysis; I prefer the format shown below:

 

Gap Analysis

Benefits of GAPs Analysis

The primary goal of GAPs analysis is to identify your ideal states and how far you are from these ideal states. Many people wish to reach certain conditions; however, they do not know precisely how to achieve their wishes. Therefore, A GAPs analysis is an excellent tool to create your action plans to achieve the goals.

Attainable Goals

People cannot achieve goals if they are unattainable. So, you will want to break down your goals into attainable pieces. Once you complete a GAPs analysis, go back to your ideal states. Some ideal states may take multiple years. For example, if you want to become an accountant but are still a freshman in a university, you have several years to accomplish the goals. You will need at least 150 credits in most states before completing CPA exams and one or two years of experience. Then, you may want to focus on achieving your university courses earning as good grades as possible. If you are an international student taking courses in a second language, you want to take classes in a specific order to sustain good grades. You can interview some CPAs from a nearby firm if you want to know anything more. If you need to lose many pounds, you must consider breaking it down into multiple milestones.

This year, I did this analysis on December 30th to plan my next year.

Ideal States

Family: Spend more time with my family

Health: Lose 15 lb.

Professional Skills: Learn more about Digital Transformation

Soft Skills: Better Listening skill & Negotiation (I recently did a DISC styles assessment, and I identified some of my problems)

Piano: Add Partita 2, Beethoven Sonata Ops 13. as my repertories

Painting: Improve my skills in drawing and watercolor painting

Blogs: Improve blogs, Fix bugs in my website

 

Current States

Family: Not able to spend as much time with my family members due to my busy schedule.

Health: I need to lose 15 lb. more to reach my ideal state

Professional Skills: gain more knowledge of digital transformation by taking courses, reading books, journals, and blogs. Learn application programming as I want to learn more about mobile technologies.

Soft Skills: I can read books, take courses, and reach out to executive consultants. I need to find specific strategies to improve my listening skills as I am unsure.

 

Actions

Family: Summer camp with my family members. Schedule my vacation dates ahead of time—better time management and delegating my tasks to take a vacation.

Health: Create calories deficit by exercising and calorie restrictions (approximately four months to achieve)

Professional Goals:

– Periodically read Open AI blogs

– Learn more about RPA courses offered online

– Take Coursera and Udemy courses on mobile programming

Soft Skills (listening skills): I can read books and courses and reach out to executive consultants. I need to find out the specific strategies to improve my listening skills as I am unsure.

Piano: Learn to play Partita 2, Beethoven Sonata Ops 13.

Painting: Improve my skills in drawing and watercolor painting by continuing 30 minutes per day drawing sessions and making at least one full-color painting per month

Blogs: Fix some blog websites (Contact form, Theme updates)

 

Once you have some idea of your action plans for the year, you need to make more specific goals. You want to make your particular goals are measurable so that you can monitor the results.

Gap analysis helps me identify my ideal states and how far I am from the ideal. I like to do gap analyses because then I know what I want to do the following year. With my action plan identified from this analysis, I will update my product logs and create sprint lists (projects) in my Notion software. This is how I spend my time around my new year, and this process helps me navigate my actions plan so that I am not all over the place.

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How to Spend Time Between Busy Seasons

I had a hectic autumn phase since I was simultaneously involved in too many projects. We completed the 3rd quarter and interim audits, which ended my last busy phase. I managed to win the best award for Kaizen (continuous Improvement) for the group in 2021. We completed and sent out our Management representative letters a week before our due date. It was challenging; however, I felt accomplished having met all the requirements. My next busy season starts once the fiscal year-end is over. Since there are only two weeks left until our year-end, I intend to rest as much as possible. At the same time, I want to prepare for the upcoming year-end. I want to write about how I spend my time between my busy seasons.

 

Take Time to Reflect on My Last project.

 

Whenever I complete a project, I reflect on the project, and I am most interested in the parts where I can improve the process. I try not to forget the details I did well because I want to continue good operations.

 

When I find something I need to improve, I list them separately. I use an app called Notion to track the things required to improve to contemplate them in the future. I incubated these ideas for a while, and I thought about any possible solutions, which would end up on my quick notes for the day. Once I have more thoughts on improving the process, they become a sprint backlog for future projects. Some items are easy to complete as I need to document the change of the process. Some sprint logs can take a few weeks to complete, so I may have to make a schedule to tackle them.

 

It is essential to be careful of a few things when reviewing your work. To avoid biases, I try to create some quantifiable—measurement tools—for example, the percentage of the tasks completed on time.

 

Unfortunately, I also need to look at qualitative measurements. Sometimes, they can be obvious such as getting an award. Not all qualitative measures are apparent, and If I am not careful, I will end up in a trap of self-review biases. To acquire better qualitative feedback, I seek feedback from other people. Since self-review, it will be a good idea to seek input from various people. There is 360-degree feedback, a performance review tool where you obtain feedback from your superiors and colleagues, customers, or vendors. Internal and external auditors are good reviewers for past projects, and they often provide feedback on something I did not notice.

 

I recommend you write down feedback or things that bother you as soon as you think about them at any moment. Otherwise, you will forget most of them. When you spontaneously have many projects as I did for the past three months, you do not have time to contemplate those items right after completing a task. However, you have items to work on later. The most important thing is to reflect on what is good and bad about the last project to organize my thoughts about them.

 

The Best Time to Fill GAPS

 

A designated professional must complete some continuous education. Between projects is a good time for meeting continuing education requirements. I work on achieving them throughout all seasons, but I found it ineffective to try to learn while under great stress. Whenever I know something new, I think about how to apply it. For example, I took an Inventory audit class recently. I improved our accounting process and documentation process from what I learned. Whenever I am under tremendous stress, I cannot do the application process very well. So, I try to get more learning done between the busy seasons.

 

 

An excellent time for writing Business Cases or Seeding

 

I wrote a proposal or a business case for the next Kaizen (Continuous Project). If the project has a cost associated with it, the best time to submit a proposal for our organization is in July or August since we do the budget for the following year in October. Some projects require approvals from head office or the board, and I may need to spend some time to obtain the authorizations. In some cases, I will need to spend several months or a few years to convince them. Next time, I will talk about initiating these projects or business cases. I call the initiation of any projects “seeding.” If you want to implement a change in an organization, you will need to seed as much as possible.

 

Preparation of The Next Busy Season

 

The best time to prepare for the next busy season is between the busy seasons. I had only three weeks to spare this time, and I spent time planning for our upcoming year-end and the year-end audit. For example, I updated the contact information for audit confirmation letters since I knew we would send out audit confirmation letters to the group companies. I also arranged who would be responsible for checking and signing these confirmation letters internally.

 

I communicate with my external auditors and key personnel to ensure the due dates for each task for our upcoming year-end and financial audit. Working in finance management for years, I realized my priorities are not necessarily the same. The Japanese may call this “nemawashi,” which helps others be aware of their responsibilities to eliminate unnecessary confusion.

 

I also updated audit working paper files and internal to-do list for financial audit and year-end for the upcoming audit. We need to submit some analyses, and we can complete some before the actual fiscal year-end. I also updated our internal to-do list for the Financial Audit, and I decided when each task on the to-do list could be completed. I will need to send out reminders to people in some cases.

 

Take Vacation Time 

 

I take a vacation during my slow phase, and I plan to take a week’s break this Christmas to refresh and spend with my family. I could not spend the last couple of years with family, so this will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

 

 

Each item I wrote maybe a trivial thing; however, I consider it critical to prepare for busy seasons. When I was young, I did not consider reflecting on my last project, and I bet I lost many opportunities to improve my process. The slow phase is an excellent time to complete an impressive sprint list or complete the backlog before initiating a new project. Finally, do not forget to take a vacation because a block of time from work helps you replenish your energy. So, these are things I do in my slow phase, and I hope this blog helps some of you.

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Prioritization Part II

When we think about prioritizing, we usually think of prioritizing your to-do list for a short period. I have made several mistakes during my youth, resulting in me instinctively sensing the scarcity of my time. So, I always created a to-do list, and focusing on critical tasks was important.

Over time, I realized that this was not enough because I was not happy with what I was doing. With prioritizing my short-term to-do list, I got an illusion of being productive. Packing my daily to-do list without reengineering my vision, I soon noticed an unsettling feeling. When the uneasy feeling accumulated, I started to feel unhappy.

When you create your goals, you want to contemplate more on your mission and values. I went to university to get a degree which landed me in my job. I barely thought of “what I want to do.” After I landed a job as an accountant, I set a mission of advancing along my career path as an accountant. I grew unhappy with myself. Initially, I tried to ignore my feelings by making myself busy. Eventually, an event made me realize the importance of contemplating my actual values. (Please read my previous blog posting for details).

Once you have created your vision, you will need to see what you need to do in more detail – this is the process of creating your goals. Any goal should have the following five elements: specificity, measurability, attainability, and relevance with a time set for completion. Many people fail to achieve their goals because they are not detailed enough.

 

For example,

“I want to lose weight this year” is a bad example of the goal.

Firstly, you cannot tell how much weight you want to lose. A measurable element allows you to monitor how well you are achieving your goals to adjust your tactics to achieve the goal. Second, no specific time is determined when you want to start or end working toward a goal. Since the goal is too generic, we cannot see whether this goal is attainable or relevant.

Instead, you want to make a goal like this.

“I want to lose 8 lbs. within two months”.

Now, the goal contains enough information to be able to develop tactics to achieve the goal. Since you want to lose eight lbs. in two months, you will need to lose one lb. each week. To lose one lb., you will need to create a 3,500 calorie deficit by eating less or exercising more. Now you can create your daily tasks. In this case, you can complete a task of aerobic exercise 5 times a week. You want to make your goal with these five elements because it will be easier to identify the tactics to accomplish the goals and measure your progress.

 

Three Categories of Tasks

I classify the tasks necessary to achieve your vision and goal as A-type tasks. These are relevant to your vision and the purpose of living. You want to pay attention and treat these tasks very carefully as they can impact your life significantly.

Now, we talk about things you want to do, but they may not be a part of your vision. For example, I love reading, playing the piano, painting, etc. They are mostly things I enjoy doing. My goals will be all over the place if I include my hobbies as part of my goals. I classify these tasks as B-Type. Some of those tasks, such as playing the piano, required you to practice regularly. So, I have them as part of my to-do list.

Some tasks must be done by a specific date, although they may not be strictly part of your goal. An excellent example of such a task is renewing your car’s registration. I call these c-type tasks. These tasks often take much more time and energy if you leave them until the last minute. Since the task itself does not have value, I do not want to spend more energy than is necessary. I list these types of tasks separately. These tasks tend to distract me from completing other tasks to finish them as soon as possible.

 

“Need” vs. “Want”

Once you have the lists of A, B, and C type tasks, you need to divide the tasks into tasks that “need” and tasks that “want” to be done.” Pay attention to the due date for any tasks that need to be done by a specific date. The closer the due date is, the higher the priority for the tasks.

My B-tasks barely contain things which “need to be done.” By nature of the tasks, they are wishful tasks. My days will be occupied by mostly A and C tasks. They may not have high priorities, but completing these tasks gives me more energy. I treat these tasks like “a date.” I schedule to do them regularly.

I have a running list of tasks, which I use computer software to monitor the status. I prioritize the tasks for the week from the list, and I create a “to-do list.” As time is limited, we must carefully plan what we do each day. There are a few tricks I learned over the year:

  • Prioritize type A type C tasks. Complete as many C-tasks as possible.
  • I always keep 20% of flexible time in my schedule.
  • I have at least one essential task for the day.
  • I make sure to include tasks from your want-to-do list from Type A and Type B.

 

PrioritizingPrioritizationI wrote about an overview of prioritizing tasks in these two-blog postings. It is crucial to prioritize your tasks since our time is limited. I have so many interests, and I struggled a lot juggling my time. Many of us tend to fill our daily life with c-tasks. Don’t randomly fill up your tasks and prioritize them. It is also essential to spend some time contemplating your visions, values, and interests before generating and prioritizing your tasks to gain more control in your life. Finally, it will take a long time to become good at prioritizing your tasks. I still make mistakes. You will also make mistakes. You are always in the process of learning better at prioritizing your tasks.

 

 

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How to Manage Project Overload

Background

The busy season has started because of year-end. Unfortunately, we have had difficulty partially finding additional accounting staff because the position requires Japanese language skills. As the hiring manager, I do not think Japanese language skill is necessary. After all, we operate in the United States.

One of my biggest challenges was a global kaizen project presentation, which I could not be delegated to anyone. Unfortunately, this presentation is being held in the middle of my busiest season – we are in the middle of preparing three different audits, budgeting, and preparation for the third quarter consolidation report. Finally, I am still overseeing a few other continuous improvement projects.

According to my network, this is not uncommon for small or mid-size companies since it is getting harder to get qualified accountants in this area. Labor shortages in specific fields are getting worse. What I can say is this. I am confident that I am not the only busy person. This is my first time in this complicated situation, but it will not be the last. Today, I want to write about how I manage my tasks when under challenging situations.

My biggest suggestion is not to wait until the last minute. Instead, you need to start the process as soon as possible. 

List all the tasks you need to complete

First, I usually list all outstanding projects I need to complete. I do not write down little tasks required for each project, but I write down the project name. I organize all my projects and tasks digitally. Still, I write down the list on a blank letter-size paper in landscape orientation to visualize the bigger picture of the situation. I spend about one or two minutes writing down this list.

Interim Audit

Quarter Review Audit

Internal Audit

Consolidation reporting package

And so on.

Next, write down the due date to the right of each item

  1. 3rd Quarter External Audit – Nov 8
  2. Interim External Audit – Nov 8
  3. Annual Internal Audit – PBC due Nov 8, Audit Nov 16
  4. Budget – Oct 26
  5. Global Kaizen Project Presentation – Nov 3
  6. Third Quarter Consolidation Report due Nov 23

If you know how long each project will take you to complete, you can estimate the earliest and the latest start time. For example, I will not do any projects involving the 3rd quarter until the 3rd quarter is closed. That will be the earliest start date. The latest start day needs to be calculated from the due date.

I usually use a checklist – which contains all activities listed in a project. For example, I typically have approximately 50-150 items depending on the type of audit. Examples of tasks on this list are federal and state taxes estimates, inventory reserve calculations, slow-moving inventory analyses. I write down how many hours it takes to complete each task. The project time is the aggregation of times of each activity to complete the project.

Checklist

I learned this trick when I was working for an accounting firm a long time ago. A checklist is a list of all the things you need to do, and a checklist offers multiple benefits.

A checklist is an excellent tool to maintain consistency in the tasks. For example, quarter audit, an external auditor usually asks for the same type of information. If you have the list ahead of time, you can generally gather them ahead of time.

A checklist is helpful when you want to delegate certain tasks to other team members of the financially auditing team.

I use a checklist to gauge how many hours each project takes. Once you have the due date, you can estimate the earliest and the latest start date for each project.

If you do not have a checklist for repeating a project, I strongly recommend you create one.

Task Delegation

I know I cannot do all tasks by myself. I usually delegate out as many tasks as possible to junior positions. Delegation does not only help you to ease your workload, but it helps to develop your subordinates.

The critical thing to remember when you delegate your work is you still need to hold responsibility for the tasks.  If you need to train them, you should prepare and review their work. Make sure to give feedback immediately when the tasks are done. Immediate feedback enhances their task efficiency for the future.

I also have written instructions for individual tasks or activities, which I create whenever I have extra time. This instruction also helps train your subordinates.

Negotiate the Due Dates ahead of time

I often negotiate the due dates with our auditors when multiple projects need to be done spontaneously. In my case, I usually negotiate the timing of interim and quarter audits with our external auditors. Our interim audit was initially scheduled for Nov 4, but I dealt with our auditor no make it 8th. We had an internal audit starting on Nov 16.

I requested the consolidation report due date to Nov 23 instead of the 18th because we have an internal audit in the same week. Sometimes it is impossible to do two projects simultaneously because you do not have the time to do two things.

Tasks completion status

I made this list in mid-September, and I made my plan to complete all of them. I am still working on the tasks, but I managed to complete some of them.

  1. 3rd Quarter External Audit – Nov 8 – 85% completed (review delegated tasks left)
  2. Interim External Audit – Nov 8 – PBC submitted
  3. Annual Internal Audit – PBC due Nov 8, Audit Nov 16 – PBC expected to be completed Nov 4
  4. Budget – Oct 26 completed
  5. Global Kaizen Project Presentation – Nov 3 (Slide submitted, currently practicing presentation)
  6. Third Quarter Consolidation Report due Nov 23 (Starting Nov 16)

Conclusion

This was quite a challenging period since I also had to work on the global kaizen project presentation. I still think the key is to list all of the tasks and plan them well. The important thing is to start the planning process as soon as possible. I am 95% certain that I will complete all of them without any delay.

I acquired this process from my experience. The process can be applied to anything. You should try it. It is probably better than becoming stressed out.