Enjoy Your Audit Gig!

I don’t know about you, but summer is the hardest time of the year for me to retain focus. I tend to lose enthusiasm about my work because I want to get outside and play!

Can you relate?

Often, my pull to be outside is a clue I have been burning the candle at both ends or my work has gotten monotonous and boring.

Maybe you are in the same spot with your audit gig.

May I offer eight suggestions?

1. Seek variety and challenges. Think about some process you and the team could do better and then try doing it in a new way. And then tomorrow, try something else new. If you make a 1% improvement each week, you will be 52% better in a year. (OK. I know that was hokey, but I also know that auditors love to quantify stuff! 😊)
2. Connect with the higher purpose of your job. Government audits ensure public resources are applied to people and things we all care about the most, like well-fed, educated children and safe bridges. How cool is that?!? Here’s an idea when your audit gig is dragging you down and you aren’t sure you can take on yet another task. Pull out a picture of the vulnerable populations your government entity serves or the safe bridge your auditee just fortified and give that picture a big, fat smoochy. Love is all you need.
3. Learn something fresh. Learn a new skill or deepen your existing skills by taking a class, or better yet, teach a class! Teaching deepens understanding and I guarantee it will remind you of how far you have come in your career. Teaching also helps others on their journey and helping others always feels good.
4. Hobnob. Auditors can easily become socially isolated, because other folks in your organization usually don’t want to talk to the auditor for fear they may become the target of an audit. That’s why you need to hang out as much as possible with other auditors. Yes! Go to that professional luncheon, attend that conference or organize a get together with audit buddies so you can commiserate and support each other.
5. Restore your energy frequently. Find a way to squeeze in a little “me time” throughout your workday. Walk around the block, do a little mediation in the conference room, check-in on the kids using Facetime, take a gossip break with a colleague over lunch or treat-yo-self to a latte at Starbucks. You can even wiggle your booty to your favorite song standing in your cubicle. You aren’t a machine… unless you are a dancing machine!
6. Leave work at work. First of all, do leave work. Secondly, come up with some sort of mind and spirit-cleansing ritual you can do as you leave work so that you can be emotionally present at home. Maybe you could write down your frustrations and tear them up before you greet your loved ones. Maybe you shimmy your shoulders and shake off the stress of work before you walk into the living room. If you work at home, set firm boundaries around when you work and when your home office is closed and off-limits. Don’t get to the point where your friends buy you a t-shirt stating, “Am I working at home or living at work?”!
7. Burn that PTO down and TAKE that VACATION! Burn that PTO down to a nub. If we learned anything from the pandemic, it taught us what really matters. And, as great as it is, I’m afraid it isn’t your audit gig. Recreate, reset, rejuvenate and relax for at least four days in a row every two months.
8. Celebrate every win. Halleluiah! That audit report finally escaped from your boss’s desk! The auditee finally got back with you after you emailed, texted and called him 10 times. This deserves a celebration! Cupcakes and high-fives for everyone!

Please take care of yourself. Because we need you.

P.S. If you just know in your gut it is time to move on, check out these government audit job postings.