Despite the daily deluge of what would otherwise be considered “bad vibes” around the field of accounting, you still have to wake up and do your level best for your clients, their businesses, and yours. So, what keeps you going?
We needn’t have to look at our lives or evaluate why we do what we do in the middle of the most stress-inducing times. Tax pros, in particular, know where I’m coming from here.
The point is, no matter what life or work is like, we still have to find some focus, some spark that at the least gets us from Point A to Point B. And it doesn’t even have to be so existential, like why we imagine a man pushing a rock up a hill for all eternity as “happy.” Certainly, anyone’s “why” can be in the task itself, but I personally believe we have it in us, all of us, to fuel the engine that makes going through whatever work or life has that much easier.
Maybe it’s something as simple as family or friends, plans we have at the end of the week, the feeling after completion of a task, or an email from a client thanking you for what you do. Sure, we know the work we do affords us the life we have, or are building. But knowing you have people in your life that both depend on you and support you in anything you do. That’s purpose. That’s motivation.
For others, it may be in your chosen path. In my view, accountants chose this career to help others. At the end of the day, and the beginning, you need to know that what you’re doing is supporting the financial health of your clients. If that thought gives you purpose, even better.
And those that have chosen the path of more “hands-on” work, be it tax planning, CAS, or somewhere in between where you don’t even necessarily have to call it anything, that level of service puts you further into helping steer outcomes for those that pay you to do it. What’s more is you don’t likely have to work with nearly as many people who drain your time and, in worse cases, your sense of self and even purpose. Perhaps this is what gets you up and moving?
But this isn’t about the type of work you choose to do, but rather why you’ve chosen to do it and what keeps you doing it. People far more influential than myself have written and spoken about this, so I won’t really go there. I do, however, want anyone reading this to know how important it is for the balance in your lives, and well being, to truly know what it is that gets you:
· Out of bed
· into the car for the commute
· to open the inbox to respond to that email
· to answer the phone even when you don’t want to
· to sit down at your desk
· onto the plane for that live event
Whatever it is, you do need to know it and remind yourself of it every day, no matter how chaotic it may seem. Burnout prevention is of course a factor here, but that’s not a new narrative for the profession. Accountants and burnout have existed for decades, it may be more pronounced now due to our overall connectivity to one another and regular reports of the dwindling numbers about those who serve in tax and accounting.
Regardless of the reason, it still needs to be about you and again, knowing what it is inside you that gets you to you do what you do. Let it serve you and provide a light even at the darkest times.
That is its purpose. I hope you have found it, or will work to do so in the foreseeable future.