Accountants live in a bit of an odd world.
We spend our working lives on a journey.
We take one exam after another until we’re qualified but it doesn’t end there
We are required to do Continual Professional Development as we go along and if you’re mad like me you go and do an MBA and end up in more exam halls!
In fact, it seems like my working life has been one long journey with no real destination ever being reached.
Or at least it did until relatively recently.
Valuing the journey
It was actually during my MBA that it dawned on me that maybe I should be enjoying the ride.
I really enjoyed the academic experience and although I did actually take the qualification to enhance my career I ended up just loving the professional rigour and research.
That’s when I realised that I should enjoy what I was doing when I was doing it and forget about the destination a bit.
Why my wife is smarter than me
This won’t come as a surprise to people that know us, by the way.
One day Alison told me that, although we were very much enjoying travelling around the world and seeing different cities we really should make an effort to enjoy where we live.
We’re based in Bournemouth and from my house, I can ride my bike five miles one way and be in the New Forest, five miles the other way and be on one of the best beaches in Europe and with a £1 ride on the ferry, I can be in the Purbeck Hills.
What on earth has this got to do with business?
I love being in, and working on my business.
Sure it gets hard from time to time but I wouldn’t change it.
That’s why I make sure that I take time to enjoy the journey.
It helps keep problems in perspective and I think makes me happier when I am presenting.
My challenge to you is to enjoy your journey.
Take five minutes, look around and realise that although you may have problems, they probably won’t be important in a month’s time.
p.s. the photo is of Brownsea Island at seven AM on a warm sunny morning. just an example of enjoying where I live!