One of the milestones I’ve reached during this time involves a deeper understanding of learning vs. doing and how that has lived itself out in my life.  For those of us who love learning, it can easily supercede getting anything actually done. 

Knowledge is great and necessary, but it can also be our biggest obstacle.  Sometimes we are too smart for our own good. This has been clear in the tax class I’ve been teaching. People tend to miss what they are looking for by overthinking the problem. They end up reading more into things that are actually there. 

In preparing for the exam, I found myself redirecting people to focus their efforts on the task at hand.  They worry about getting the complex issues down. I direct them back to the basic, foundational principles.

In reality, you can’t master the complexities before you get started. You have to get started before you can really figure them out.

The similarities in their efforts and my own thoughts and actions haven’t escaped me.  The reality is that I have more than enough head knowledge to get the show on the road. It’s just that I’m struggling in applying it. 

Some of it is information overload. I’m working through this in a few ways.

• I’m shaving off the unimportant stuff and learning to make priorities. Part of this is developing a sense of what I want and don’t want. I’ve read a lot about goals, mission, and vision statements, but it is still hard for me to get my mind around it. FranklinCovey systems have helped a lot with that.
• I’ve started a mastermind group. That has been invaluable from the get go.  I’m amazed at how it has helped me pinpoint my direction more clearly. Talking it out and getting ideas and feedback are bringing about real change.
• I’ve implemented a brain dump process since thought clutter really holds me back. I’ve had very good success with mindmaps in the past. Lately I’ve found free flow writing does the trick for me. Writing gets info out of my head, organizes it and lets me actually see what’s going on in my noggin. 

Change is a long process, but it is well worth the effort.  Even though I started this blog with a focus on changing how we think, it has become very clear that changing how you act on your thoughts is a bigger part of the process.

Here’s to your journey,
Deborah

I’ve only been a preparer for a year, but I worked 12 tax seasons for my mom’s franchise in Alabama taking care of back office stuff.  I decided to take the plunge to tax pro  here in St. Louis because things have become more automated and my mom really doesn’t need me.

What I gained was an opportunity in financial education.  One of H&R Blocks great strengths is in the area of expertise.   We have to have 69 hours of tax training and pass an exam just to be able to be considered for an interview.  After that, beginning tax pros have to take another 60 hours before and at the beginning of tax season.   

Each year we have to have a minimum of 24 hours just to get rehired.  Raise that to 30 to go to another level of certification (which involves more pay).  Plus, you can’t get certification hours for a course you took in the last 3 years.

What’s my point? Well, in order to keep this level of expertise with all of the tax pros, they offer a gazillion courses in all different tax and business subjects.  The best part is we get to choose as many as we want, in a classroom or online,  for $20 a year.  Add to that all of the on the job experience and it’s a grand education in taxes and in business and marketing.

Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad fame says that for those who think like rich people the main  reason to get a job is for the financial education it can provide you.  If you are familiar with the Rich Dad principles, you know that rich people think in terms of assets – businesses and investments.  

Apart from the fact that taxes are fun (yes, you hear tax pros say it all the time) and H&R Block is a great company to work for with lots of advancement opportunities, working for H&R Block gives a great financial education.

Tax attorney Drew Miles (Tax Tips – Asset Protection – Pathfinder Business Strategies ) tells the story of watching Bill Gates being interviewed on a national news channel.  He was asked what was the key to his success.  He said having a “working knowledge of the tax code.”  Not the answer you would expect, is it? 

You hear a lot of people complain about how the rich get all of these tax breaks while the poor and middle class keep paying higher taxes.  The reality is that they make an effort to know about their money and how it works.  A huge part of that is knowing how taxes work for and against them. 

The poor and middle class have so many more opportunities available to them that they don’t take.  Many times because they are afraid to take them. If you are rethinking wealth in your own mind, consider how you can make better decisions in the area of taxes.  It will help you overall financially.

Deborah