#33 March 27th, 2022
Blake Carroll, CPA
PwC People Team - Manager | Helping Aspiring CPAs Navigate the CPA Exam with Confidence
Thought of the newsletter: This thought is for people studying for the CPA exam, whether you’re just starting or wrapping up your fourth section. I would challenge you to reflect on whether you truly BELIEVE you are capable of passing the exam. I certainly believe you can, but do you? It’s easy to jump into the pursuit of a goal without this self examination. Sometimes our disbelief may be subconscious or just assumed so much that we aren’t aware of it.
Think about how it changes the pursuit of the CPA whether you believe you can do it or not. If you think you can’t do it you’re more likely to self sabotage, procrastinate, and simply not put in the time and work. “Why should I bother studying when I know I’m going to fail?” Contrast that with “I know I can do this as long as I put in the required time and effort.” When you don’t believe if you fail a section you think “see I knew I couldn’t do it, maybe I should give up.” Is that motivating?
However, if you DO believe, when a setback or having to retake a section happens you think “yeah this sucks but I can focus on my weak areas, I know what to improve on, and I’ll get it next time.” The only way you can truly fail is if you quit. If this is something you’re struggling with I’d be happy to talk about this more in depth.
Your social health does not feel as tangible and measurable as your physical health, but it is still an incredibly?important factor in your overall well-being. Studies on the groups of people in the world that live the longest are consistent in showing that having a strong social network is highly correlated with a longer lifespan. We are built to be in community with one another. This article expands on that idea as well as some other practices that can help ensure a long and happy life.?
You may assume that a financial professional?you hire will always act in your best interest and be totally open and honest, but unfortunately that is often not the case. There may even be times where their incentives are actually opposite to yours. Some examples have to do with commissions and fees, or recommending certain products even if they are not best for you but their company owns them. There’s really a lot of potential for wrongdoing. My personal opinion is that with all of the free information available online to anyone there really is no need to hire a financial advisor anymore. You could end up paying a lot of money to them and the incremental benefit they bring over what you could get for free is not worth the cost in my opinion.?
I think most of us probably don’t realize how often we apologize without questioning what we are really apologizing for. We just kind of do it without thinking, even if we haven’t done something wrong or offended someone. Sometimes we really are not at fault, and if we are apologizing in those cases we are actually belittling ourselves in our own minds and the other persons mind as well. This article has good examples of things we apologize for that we really don’t need to. Everyone’s homes and cars are messy at times. All kids act crazy at times. If you don’t have time for new commitments because you are already full with other important things you do not need to apologize for that. If you have tried your best but still come up short you do not need to apologize for that, because what else can you do besides give your best??
Captain obvious statement here: exercise is good for our brains. This article delves deeper into that idea and presents simple, straightforward, yet impactful evidence of all of the benefits that come from exercise. If you’ve been struggling to create a consistent exercise habit maybe the evidence here could help motivate you!