It’s not that I can’t get anything done. It’s just that around 3-3:30 I don’t WANT to get anything else done. Especially if I feel like it’s going to drag into the next day. Id rather not lose my train of thought on it because I had to put it down till the next day. During busy season I’d just stick around till it was done, but off season? Yeah, no. Doesn’t make much sense to stay and then have nothing to do the next day
Yep. Our timesheet are divisible by 6 mins. So 1 hr = 60 mins. So it's like 0.7 hours hahaha 1 hour admin a day is too much 😂😂😂😂 at least according to our partner lol
It is. And we have to submit it daily. We can go over that cap but just be prepared to answer all the damn stupid questions the manager/partner will ask on why you went over the cap. Sounds fun right
Joined a wealth management firm last month to be on their tax department… no timesheets. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world. I’m more productive and less stressed not having to worry about budgets or if I’m “using my time efficiently”
I was a tax accountant for a multi national construction firm. We have timesheets but we book it to admin since we're part of corporate. Submission is on a weekly basis. Now Im back in public accounting lol i miss those days where I don't need to think about timesheets or productivity.
I mean we’re supposed to be around 80-90% billable rn but as a staff I can only do so much without getting anything from my team lead or other managers who are trying their best to get clients to give us their shit
There’s a reason why study after study shows 8 hour days aren’t where the most productivity lies. 6 hour days is the sweet spot, about 30 hours a week. One day companies will learn this, but not today.
Company don't keep you in for 40-42 hours for efficiency they do it because they can't be bothered to change it & to remind you that they hold the power.
pulling through in the morning rocks I do it all the time. Blast through the normal lunch hours when the caffeine is still rocking you and then by the time you get back from a 2 pm lunch you have like an hour left of work
I read a study where it states that only 3 to 4 hrs a day are actually productive (forgot the source and can't search it right now). So if you're at that level, I think you're good. We aren't robots that can straight work from 8 to 5. Specially with our field where we use our brain and analyse. But there also those peope who can do that and I salute them. Hail Hydra!
Yup! Mid morning snack later very light lunch. My productivity is as good as it gets with this arrangement. Even better if you get up and moving during lunch, walks count.
I feel like 3 pm is the point where my attention span hits its limit.
Either it’s completely spent for the rest of the day, or I take an hour of fidgeting and then suddenly start hyperfocusing to the point where I end up not leaving until 6 pm…
I'm the opposite. I can't get anything done during the day. Too many interruptions and meetings. After 5 pm, it's quiet, and I can actually get something done
I'm wildly efficient from 7-10 in the morning, slow down a bit from 10-2, and then I'm absolutely worthless from about 2-5.
And then I occasionally get a weird boost of energy and will do some work from 8-10 at night if I feel like I need to catch up
Here’s my average day:
Log on at 8:30am with my coffee and check emails/messages, work hard on things from 9am through 12pm, eat lunch, work at a slow pace from 1pm-3:30pm, screw around until 5:30pm.
I dont work accounting but I have the same feeling what I found works well for me is working my ass off for the first 4-6 hours (depending how I'm feeling) and then start taking my breaks (I get 1 hour) so usually take a 15 that helps me get through the next bit etc. Etc. Until I'm done
This is a good time schedule interactions with other people in the company whose jobs interface with your job. When I was a Controller, then CFO, I would do this several times a week to meet people and make sure I knew what was going on in the rest of the business.
I feel like I’m the opposite most mornings are spent waking up and I try to get as much done post lunch every day that I can. Not an accountant just another office worker who majored in accounting my freshman year lol
Me big time. I live on the west coast and have east coast staff and usually start my meetings around 730am pacific through 2ish with some breaks. By 2:30 I am like a zombie and can’t do much other than simple tasks.
I generally start just before 8am and wrap up around 4pm, but the last hour of the day is exceptionally unproductive for me. I usually spend it catching up on emails or planning out my work schedule for the next day. If there is actually something pressing with a deadline then I continue to be productive as long as I need to be, but on a normal day, I'm usually mentally checked out around 3:30.
It’s why I try and start early in the day. Also, I have a lighter lunch. I find I’m more productive with a meeting at the end of the day. I’m sure this annoys my coworkers.
Absolutely yes. I hit a wall around then where nothing of quality will be produced by my brain and I’ll just have to re-do it the next day if I power through. Also, in that state it will take me twice as long. I do all of my important work in the morning then let 3-5pm be for email responses, maybe a meeting or two, trainings, any low intensity work, really. Anyone that seems like they are really consistently belting our quality work during this time frame is putting up a facade lol
Enjoy it while it lasts. I started a new firm and was so slow my first few months until I got into full swing of responsibilities. Now, I am busy every second of the day, which I love because time passes quick when you are busy. I remember my first year slowly counting away the last 100 minutes of the day from 3:20 to 5.
I have trouble getting started in the morning, then I feel super-productive in the two hours before I leave work.
It's a different for everyone thing I think.
I find I can't get work done before lunch.
After lunch I need a few hours to digest, after that by the time 3pm rolls around its too late to do anything major.
/s?
I think this is culture driven, I'm usually good till 4pm or 5pm then hit a wall. I have a friend in Comms/IR that will work to 2am.... not a typo... I was flabbergasted that anyone could remain coherent for that long. Bankers and attorneys will regularly pull those kinds of hours as well.
Also you mentioned being well fed but that might be part of the problem. If you can skip breakfast and take a late lunch I'll bet you'll gain a few hours of productivity per day.
That's when I'm most productive. I procrastinate early in the day, then I panic to get things done later. But I can't start any work after 4:00 because the day's almost over.
Do you take breaks during the day? Or are you (sorry) grinding away the entire day?
You may just be hitting the literal limit of what you can do in one chunk. Take a 15 minute break and walk away from your desk. Make sure you shut your laptop and eat lunch. Etc.
Accounting isn’t hard due to the complexity 95% of the time. Accounting is a battle of attrition against mind-numbing tasks.
Everyday. I don't like starting something I cannot finish. Also, for difficult tasks, I leave them to the AM (8) to start, as the brain is firing on all cylinders. I may review some vendor issues, but anything requiring much more can blooming wait!
Whelp... It's currently 3:38pm with an hour and a half left of the day and I'm reading your post... Soooo
It’s not that I can’t get anything done. It’s just that around 3-3:30 I don’t WANT to get anything else done. Especially if I feel like it’s going to drag into the next day. Id rather not lose my train of thought on it because I had to put it down till the next day. During busy season I’d just stick around till it was done, but off season? Yeah, no. Doesn’t make much sense to stay and then have nothing to do the next day
100
So what do you put on your timesheet for that day?
“Catching up on blah and other various tasks around the office”
That's on an admin task code? Lol i envy you. I'm capped at 42 mins a day admin tasks lol the rest should be billable or scheduled meetings lol
What an arbitrary number... 42 minutes?!
Yep. Our timesheet are divisible by 6 mins. So 1 hr = 60 mins. So it's like 0.7 hours hahaha 1 hour admin a day is too much 😂😂😂😂 at least according to our partner lol
Damn that sounds like a pain.
It is. And we have to submit it daily. We can go over that cap but just be prepared to answer all the damn stupid questions the manager/partner will ask on why you went over the cap. Sounds fun right
Joined a wealth management firm last month to be on their tax department… no timesheets. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world. I’m more productive and less stressed not having to worry about budgets or if I’m “using my time efficiently”
I was a tax accountant for a multi national construction firm. We have timesheets but we book it to admin since we're part of corporate. Submission is on a weekly basis. Now Im back in public accounting lol i miss those days where I don't need to think about timesheets or productivity.
Can you code the time spent answering the questions to admin?
Yep to admin time OR worse team meetings lol you know you're in trouble if they invited you to meetings
Arbitrary!? It is the answer to the universe, life, and everything
True... true.
I mean we’re supposed to be around 80-90% billable rn but as a staff I can only do so much without getting anything from my team lead or other managers who are trying their best to get clients to give us their shit
There’s a reason why study after study shows 8 hour days aren’t where the most productivity lies. 6 hour days is the sweet spot, about 30 hours a week. One day companies will learn this, but not today.
Probably the day I retire companies will start implementing a shorter work week
Actually the day our kids revolt will be the only time this’ll happen
Company don't keep you in for 40-42 hours for efficiency they do it because they can't be bothered to change it & to remind you that they hold the power.
We all have our peaks and valleys during the day. Leave your small stuff for that time slot.
Sorry, I'm on the toilet. What are you asking?
Idk man I’m playing Xbox and scrolling on Reddit. Can you repeat the question?
Might be shitting on company time, but by God this person will not leave messages unread for more than 2 hours.
Yeah I get off at 4 and once it hits 3 nobody really does anything.
I work my best from 10-12 and 4-6 and I don’t work past 4 usually
10-12 is huge for me After 4 I’m worthless. On a “big” day I’ll go 10-2 purely focused but that’s fairly rare
pulling through in the morning rocks I do it all the time. Blast through the normal lunch hours when the caffeine is still rocking you and then by the time you get back from a 2 pm lunch you have like an hour left of work
I don’t feel like I can get any work done past 9 am.
I read a study where it states that only 3 to 4 hrs a day are actually productive (forgot the source and can't search it right now). So if you're at that level, I think you're good. We aren't robots that can straight work from 8 to 5. Specially with our field where we use our brain and analyse. But there also those peope who can do that and I salute them. Hail Hydra!
Make sure your lunch isn't draining your energy and putting you in a food coma. Stick to protein based ones.
Yup! Mid morning snack later very light lunch. My productivity is as good as it gets with this arrangement. Even better if you get up and moving during lunch, walks count.
Protein is what drains my energy
I feel like 3 pm is the point where my attention span hits its limit. Either it’s completely spent for the rest of the day, or I take an hour of fidgeting and then suddenly start hyperfocusing to the point where I end up not leaving until 6 pm…
That’s why I leave before 3:30
In office I’m not getting shit done WFH these are prime time crushing hours cause I took a nappy nap at 130-215
This is why I come in at 7am. Then I'm off by three before the slow down hits.
You work all day? I go in at 7 and can’t get any work done past 8, 9 on a bad day.
That's why my work hours end at 3. Byeeeeee
I'm the opposite. I can't get anything done during the day. Too many interruptions and meetings. After 5 pm, it's quiet, and I can actually get something done
I'm wildly efficient from 7-10 in the morning, slow down a bit from 10-2, and then I'm absolutely worthless from about 2-5. And then I occasionally get a weird boost of energy and will do some work from 8-10 at night if I feel like I need to catch up
Im the opposite. Cant do anything till 10. My best work happens from 1-5.
Ive realized i can only really get in a good 6ish hours of work a day. I’m 30 and new to the career. Pray for me 🙏
I just leave at 3:30. I’m in the building materials industry. Except for tomorrow, director decided to have a Friday at 3pm meeting. Sweet move dude!
Here’s my average day: Log on at 8:30am with my coffee and check emails/messages, work hard on things from 9am through 12pm, eat lunch, work at a slow pace from 1pm-3:30pm, screw around until 5:30pm.
That's when I do make work like cleaning up the inbox and deleting files in my personal that didn't make it to the shared drive.
The firm I worked for out of college would have 3pm snacks for this exact reason. To this day I need a snack at 3.
I dont work accounting but I have the same feeling what I found works well for me is working my ass off for the first 4-6 hours (depending how I'm feeling) and then start taking my breaks (I get 1 hour) so usually take a 15 that helps me get through the next bit etc. Etc. Until I'm done
Lucky you. I cant get past 8:00 am
This is a good time schedule interactions with other people in the company whose jobs interface with your job. When I was a Controller, then CFO, I would do this several times a week to meet people and make sure I knew what was going on in the rest of the business.
I work best between 10:30 and 3:30. Also I usually have a little boost of motivation between 4:30 and 5:30, idk why
Same
I feel like I’m the opposite most mornings are spent waking up and I try to get as much done post lunch every day that I can. Not an accountant just another office worker who majored in accounting my freshman year lol
You guys are working? I've got a macro that moves my cursor every couple of seconds and I just dick around waiting for emails.
Me big time. I live on the west coast and have east coast staff and usually start my meetings around 730am pacific through 2ish with some breaks. By 2:30 I am like a zombie and can’t do much other than simple tasks.
I get this - I have lots going on every morning due to time zone differences, so I start early usually like 645-715am daily and by 4 I am toast
Yea bro. Me 100%. I can never get anything done past 3PM. Or before 3PM for that matter.
Yes!! But I also feel like I can’t get shit done before 3pm due to so many meetings and calls.
I generally start just before 8am and wrap up around 4pm, but the last hour of the day is exceptionally unproductive for me. I usually spend it catching up on emails or planning out my work schedule for the next day. If there is actually something pressing with a deadline then I continue to be productive as long as I need to be, but on a normal day, I'm usually mentally checked out around 3:30.
I’m the opposite. I’m pretty useless in the morning, I gain speed in the afternoon hours.
At 3pm I always fall asleep from lunch
I work 7-3.30 for this very reason. I also don't take lunch until after 1pm. I just can't work in the afternoon...
Same here. But also before 3pm.
Can't or won't? Pick one tbh, post 3PM is for pretending to work, not qctually working.
I can’t get work done past Thursday
It’s why I try and start early in the day. Also, I have a lighter lunch. I find I’m more productive with a meeting at the end of the day. I’m sure this annoys my coworkers.
Absolutely yes. I hit a wall around then where nothing of quality will be produced by my brain and I’ll just have to re-do it the next day if I power through. Also, in that state it will take me twice as long. I do all of my important work in the morning then let 3-5pm be for email responses, maybe a meeting or two, trainings, any low intensity work, really. Anyone that seems like they are really consistently belting our quality work during this time frame is putting up a facade lol
What makes 3pm so special? You're only halfway through the big4 workday.
Enjoy it while it lasts. I started a new firm and was so slow my first few months until I got into full swing of responsibilities. Now, I am busy every second of the day, which I love because time passes quick when you are busy. I remember my first year slowly counting away the last 100 minutes of the day from 3:20 to 5.
I have trouble getting started in the morning, then I feel super-productive in the two hours before I leave work. It's a different for everyone thing I think.
I find I can't get work done before lunch. After lunch I need a few hours to digest, after that by the time 3pm rolls around its too late to do anything major. /s?
Around 2 pm I'm like frig this
I think this is culture driven, I'm usually good till 4pm or 5pm then hit a wall. I have a friend in Comms/IR that will work to 2am.... not a typo... I was flabbergasted that anyone could remain coherent for that long. Bankers and attorneys will regularly pull those kinds of hours as well. Also you mentioned being well fed but that might be part of the problem. If you can skip breakfast and take a late lunch I'll bet you'll gain a few hours of productivity per day.
That's when I'm most productive. I procrastinate early in the day, then I panic to get things done later. But I can't start any work after 4:00 because the day's almost over.
Do you take breaks during the day? Or are you (sorry) grinding away the entire day? You may just be hitting the literal limit of what you can do in one chunk. Take a 15 minute break and walk away from your desk. Make sure you shut your laptop and eat lunch. Etc. Accounting isn’t hard due to the complexity 95% of the time. Accounting is a battle of attrition against mind-numbing tasks.
Nope
Everyday. I don't like starting something I cannot finish. Also, for difficult tasks, I leave them to the AM (8) to start, as the brain is firing on all cylinders. I may review some vendor issues, but anything requiring much more can blooming wait!