Death, Taxes & Procrastination
You know the saying, “The only two things in life that are certain are death & taxes.” I think it’s time to edit this saying because procrastination is also a certainty. ALL personality types do it. Everybody. Some types — Funs (SP), Organic Freedoms (ENFP & INFP), and Smart Freedoms (ENTP & INTP) — are just better at it than others. Today’s tip is why different personality types procrastinate plus a helpful tip to make your next tax season just a little easier courtesy of our favorite bookkeeper, Marlene Cantor, at Executive Bookkeeping Services who spoke at The NY Network breakfast meeting a few weeks ago.
All of us procrastinate when it’s something we don’t enjoy or takes effort. Often when we say, “Gosh, I’m so sorry I didn’t get to that because I’ve been so busy,” it’s either because that wasn’t a priority or that is something we don’t relish or that is a difficult or tricky task. When I’m faced with a list of To Do’s, I usually do the easy ones first and the harder ones second. It’s a natural prioritizing system. For example, taxes. I put those on the back burner for weeks before I hit the deadline that my accountant gave me back in January. Only if I force myself do I do unpleasant or hard tasks first
The reason Funs, Organic Freedoms and Smart Freedoms are more profligate procrastinators than Classics (SJ), Organic Structures (ENFJ & INFJ) and Smart Structures (ENTJ & INTJ) is that they’re more comfortable with things being in process. They’re not as relieved to check something off their To Do list — mainly because so many of them don’t have written daily To Do lists in the first place. The other reason is simply as I said, finality isn’t as prized a possession to those other types. I’m a Classic Freedom (ISFJ) and man do I love finality except for death. One of the most mind blowing concepts for me is that when I die, I will still have unfinished To Dos. This seems so wrong to me. It’s why I know that God or the Grim Reaper couldn’t possibly be Classics because if they were, they’d allow you to empty your Inbox first!
Taxes are where any personality type — outside of bookkeeprs and accountants (or is it CPAs? I feel like someone told me they don’t prefer that title anymore) — easily procrastinates because it’s a boring task and the government is usually coming to pry your hard earned money out of your hands. Marlene’s advice to make tax preparation (and therefore life) easier is to always have documentation for whatever deductions you take. This means even the pack of gum you buy on your business trip and even if you’re using your work Amex. The reason to do this annoying task is so that if you’re ever audited, you have documentation of what you bought and the government is less likely to bother you forever and a day or fine you.
Marlene advised keeping an envelope with you at all times to collect tax receipts. She suggested having one envelope per month. Label the envelope whatever month it is, i.e., February 2014, and when it’s done, you file it away in a file labeled Tax Receipts 2014. This is great advice for Classics (SJ) or half of the population. These are about the only personality types likely to attend to this detail daily or weekly and file things properly. Maybe a few Organic Structures might do it.
Everybody else? Get one big envelope and stuff them in there and mark it 2014. Better yet, get a more permanent envelope — perhaps this gorgeous leather one, a cheaper version, or reuse a small make-up bag — and when it gets too stuffed dump it in a folder marked Tax Receipts 2014 if you’re a Fun Structure (ESTP & ISTP), Smart Freedom, Smart Structure, or even a super busy Classic Structure (ESTJ & ISTJ) who can’t do Marlene’s monthly suggestion. If you’re not one of those types? Same drill about dumping the receipts into a yearly folder but there’s no law that says you have to label it Tax Receipts 2014. You can label it how you feel about it. It could be Yay! Tax Receipts 2014 or F$(%ing Tax Receipts 2014. Whatever you want.