#154 August 22nd, 2024
Blake Carroll, CPA
PwC People Team - Manager | Helping Aspiring CPAs Navigate the CPA Exam with Confidence
What explains the gap between how we use our time and how we want to use our time? If you suddenly got a free hour, how would you LIKE to spend it if you had total freedom and autonomy? But then when that unexpectedly does happen, how do you actually spend the time? If you’re like most people, I would bet there’s a big gap there. Instead of spending free time on what we really want to do, we often waste it away and try to do anything to feel busy. We have a very strange relationship with time. Far too often whenever we have free time we spend it working or on something else that we have deemed “productive.” We need to be reminded that our value as a person is not determined by how many hours that we work. Trying to achieve enough in our work to make us feel good enough is actually a great way to destroy the other areas of our lives. What would it look like if you spent more of your time on the things that really matter to you? Have you taken the time to reflect on what those things are? It’s a little sad but maybe the problem is we don’t even know what leisure activities we actually like, which ones are personally worth doing solely because they energize us. Achievement and productivity will never bring enduring and lasting fulfillment, so think about what other ways you could spend your time that will lead to you feeling those emotions more often.?
Our world today greatly increases he phenomenon of milestone anxiety, when we feel like we should be further ahead in life than where we are. It is so easy nowadays to compare our life to everyone else’s. We see the announcements of everyone else’s milestones on social media, and we wonder why we aren’t as far as they are, why we haven’t accomplished as much. It’s easy to think there is a checklist for life that we have to be in perfect lockstep with.?
Unsurprisingly, milestone anxiety affects younger generations more than the older generations. People dealing with this issue feel like they’re falling behind, that others may be judging them, or that they “just aren’t good enough.” But no one gets to decide for you where you “should be” in your life. Your life is yours and yours alone. Life milestones are not a real tangible thing; they are artificially constructed from society’s expectations. But society changes: on the broad macro level most people are reaching “standard” milestones later in life than previous generations. So you’re not behind, you’re right on time! You have to determine what is important to you, not what society says should be important to you. Your expectations and your perceptions of where you are in life are huge determinants in how you feel about where you are. Focus more on your journey and your path rather than specific markers along the way.?
Have you ever felt productivity guilt, when you feel bad about not getting more done? I think it’s a very common thing nowadays for motivated high achievers. I know I certainly struggle with it all the time. The feeling can get so bad that you go from not being pleased with what you’ve gotten done to not being able to get anything done at all. So what are we to do in that situation??
We need to be realistic about what we can get done in a single day. We overestimate what we can get done in the short term but hugely underestimate what we can get done in the long term. I think it’s very reasonable to only expect to get three big tasks done a day, but if they are truly needle movers that make a big difference for your work then that is more than enough. Be honest about what you really HAVE to get done today. Don’t let the small trivial tasks crowd out what is actually most important to you or to your work. Embrace imperfection and know you will still have days you do not get all of your big tasks done. We also need to self reflect on if we are actually being productive, or are we just busy? Is our day filled with tasks that don’t really matter? Lastly, be sure to celebrate the progress you make along the way. Rest, breaks, and vacations are needed, and they are a great time to recognize and be proud of all that you have done.
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This is a great interview with the president of the American Psychological Association, Thema Bryant, on what success really means. It can be easy to define what success looks like in work, but what about the other important areas of life? Never experiencing tough or difficult emotions is not what success is, because that isn't even possible. Often, if you’re suppressing emotions they are still going to bubble up and negatively impact other areas of your life. Contrary to what hustle culture will tell you, your busyness and productivity are not the most accurate measures of success either. We should all strive to work at a pace that is sustainable but many of us are currently at a pace that is going to lead to burnout. A sustainable pace is one where you still have positive relationships, time for your hobbies, and time to maintain strong physical health. If you have work success but it comes at the expense of all of those other areas, is it worth it? We have definitely seen plenty of high achievers who you can tell are totally miserable. Achievement and happiness are not the same thing. Lastly, when it comes to relationships, it’s better to have four quarters than twenty nickels. It’s better to have a small number of close friends where you can be completely transparent and vulnerable, as opposed to a higher number of friendships that are shallow. This article is a great challenge to be honest about your level of success across your whole life.
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CPA tip of the week: I post about the CPA exam pretty much every single day, but I’m not sure when the last time I shared my own exam journey.
Under North Carolina requirements, I was eligible to sit for the exam in the second semester of my grad school year at UNC Chapel Hill. I had gotten full access to Becker materials after accepting a full-time offer in tax with PwC when I went through structured fall recruiting.
Back in the day, REG and BEC used to be only three hours each, but they were about to change to four hours halfway through 2017. As a result, those were the two sections that I took first, which runs contrary to the advice I give everyone now to take FAR first (with some exceptions).
Since the exam was undergoing format changes, the score release was only once a quarter, similar to what everyone is going through now, so I feel your pain with having to wait so long to know if you passed!
I spent about two months studying for each section and sat for REG in March, BEC in May after graduation, FAR in July, and AUD in September right before I started work full time.
During the summer I basically treated studying like it was a job, putting in lots of hours every day and maintaining the same study hours and schedule. I did pass all four sections on the first try, but looking back if anything I probably over studied and spent more time on it than I needed to.
If I could do it again I probably would spend a little bit less time studying and a little bit more time having fun!
I actually did not get my final score back until after I had started work, and they released the scores at about 3 AM, and that definitely was incredible feeling to see that I was done with it forever!
I know everyone reading this is capable of reaching that finish line as well, and I’d be happy to try to help you get there!