#151 July 25, 2024

Head, Heart or Gut...Which One's Right? — Free to Pursue

I think we all have gone through the question this article’s title asks when we have been faced with difficult decisions or are evaluating which one we listened to after to after we made a decision. Your head uses things like logic, pros/cons list, and rational thinking. Your heart uses emotions and feelings. Your gut is a little tougher to define because it’s more intangible and based on intuition. Ironically, sometimes you can’t really explain why your gut is giving certain guidance. It’s more of a sense, a guide, something beneath the surface. So which is best?

The author thinks the gut is best, but I think it depends on the specific situation. Some people think your gut is the sum of your collective life experience coming together to point you in the right direction. The author writes thst they can think of many times they didn’t listen to their gut and later come to regret it, but the me that seems like something that is very susceptible to mental bias where you’ll remember all those times you think “oh my gut did know what to do” but you’re forgetting all of the times you did listen to your gut and it was wrong.

Rather than putting one of the head, heart, or guy always above the others, I think it’s better to listen to all 3, seek outside opinions, and take all of the factors together.?

The Communication Strategy That Can Change Your Relationships · Dr Allison Answers

This article describes how switching from “you” statements to “I” statements can have a huge positive impact on all of your relationships, whether friends, family, or work. It’s an especially helpful tactic if the conversation is one that may be tense or emotional. “You” statements automatically make the other person defensive, and when that happens it’s almost impossible to have a productive conversation. You can begin to fight about the conversation rather than discussing what you actually wanted to talk about. I’m sure we’ve all that experience of being in a fight and then we forget what the fight was even about in the first place!

?“I” statements make sure you are keeping the focus on yourself and your experience rather than the other person. Your experience is valid, and it’s helpful to make sure that the other people knows how you feel. We do still have to own our feelings and self evaluate if they are true or not; we can’t just beat the other person over the head with them. There is a different between feelings are valid and feelings are objectively true. Try these tactics and see how much more open and honest your conversations can become!?

Give Perfectionism Its Walking Papers: Five Reasons You Should Be Willing to Make Mistakes

This article gives advice on how to let go of perfectionism and be more comfortable with making mistakes. Many of us are holding ourselves to unrealistic standards and then beating ourselves up for not reaching them. Perfectionism can actually be a form of procrastinating: you don’t start working on a task because you’re afraid of falling short since you’re demanding so much of yourself. But we should embrace trying and embrace making mistakes.

History is full of examples of something that at first looked like a mistake actually leading to an even better outcome than the original plan. Your mind may surprise you with new solutions if you take the first step of starting to look for them even if you don’t know where exactly to look. Every attempt you make will help guide you in a better direction. If you never bother trying anything new then almost by definition you will never achieve or create anything.

Lastly, dealing with mistakes is a great area to practice growth and personal development. It’s a chance to learn and improve rather than berating ourselves, and it also teaches us forgiveness and how to move on.?

I Was Never Really A Very Good Employee - Financial Panther

The author of this article writes about why he’s been much more successful as a self employed worker rather than a traditional 9-5 employee. If you can relate to and identify with some of his reasons then maybe it’s something for you to potentially explore as well.

The first reason was the time autonomy and flexibility that comes from being self employed, from being able to make your own schedule. Thankfully that ability has become much more readily available since COVID and the first of WFH, but with many jobs there are still hard and strict expectations around work schedules. It can be frustrating when it feels like your time isn’t really your own. If you’re in a traditional corporate role it’s probably a more regular thing for you to have work assignments that you really just don’t care about because you have less control about what you have to work on. No job is perfect in this regard; there will always be times we have to do tasks we don’t love, but we can certainly try to improve this part of our work.?

Next, in an office maybe you feel like you have to have your own work persona at times, play politics, impress the bosses even when it has nothing to do with your competencies. If you’re self employed those concerns of fairness go out the window and you can just work, you don’t have to do any pretending over who you are with others.?

Lastly, in traditional work you may feel like people are always monitoring you and looking over your shoulder. Yes, guidance is helpful, but no one wants to be micromanaged. It’s another area where there’s more freedom and autonomy if you are doing your own work. If you resonate with these ideas maybe it’s time to explore starting your own side gig.?

If you need a coach or a mentor on the CPA exam I would love to help you and work together; please check out my website below:

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CPA tip of the week: You’re not going to feel motivated to study for the CPA exam every day that you need to study, but that’s actually good news.

Every person who has been able to pass the exams didn’t feel motivated all the time.

If you’re asking how they still passed, know these things:

- They studied because they had a big enough reason ‘why’ they do what they do.

- They were consistent, regardless of how they felt.

- Every day they worked toward their goal regardless of whether or not they felt motivated.

So, the recipe for this issue of motivation is to act anyway. Do the thing regardless of how you feel. Instead of waiting for motivation, build momentum instead.