#77 December 31st, 2022
Blake Carroll, CPA
PwC People Team - Manager | Helping Aspiring CPAs Navigate the CPA Exam with Confidence
The quote "Christmas is forever, not just for one day. For loving, sharing, giving, are not to be put away" really resonated with me today! No matter what one celebrates, I think we generally can agree that the holidays seem to bring an increased emphasis and awareness on feeling joy and gratitude, trying to be more generous, and valuing the time we get to spend with our loved ones. There’s no reason we can’t keep that mindset no matter what time of year it is! It’s definitely something I want to continue to think about and practice more often into the new year ??
Work life balance is a term that gets thrown around all the time nowadays, but what does it even mean? It creates images of an even 50-50 split between work time and personal time, but how feasible is that? Is it even something to strive for at all? This author thinks work life balance is more of a feeling than a numerical divide. It is feeling like you are able to give enough energy to both areas of your life, and it will certainly change during your life depending on what is going on at work or at home. Sometimes work will demand more time and sometimes family will demand more time, like with a big new project or with newborn kids. We increase the chances of feeling that balance if we consciously think about the things that invigorate us versus the things that drain us. Can you remove some of the things that stress you out, like doom scrolling social media or staying up late, and replace them with whatever self-care means to you like connecting with loved ones or working on a hobby? I think it’s very important and helpful to realize that work life balance is different from person to person and different from time to time in our lives. Don’t get stressed out just because your own personal work life balance isn’t the same as what social media tells you it should be.?
It can be really easy to assess our level of physical fatigue, but what about mental fatigue? Mental fatigue and mental health are becoming more common conversation topics recently, especially in a work environment context. Your brain needs breaks just like your body does. Neither one can go for hours on end nonstop and function optimally. Both need breaks where they can relax and recharge. It’s tempting to grind it out and power through, but I think if we all are honest we would say the quality of our work noticeably declines if you try to do that too often. It’s a recipe for burn out and exhaustion.?
Why do some ideas and products catch on and spread like wildfire, while others that might seem good flounder and die in obscurity? This article identifies a number of factors that can factor into those outcomes. First off, is the new offering even that much better than what exists now? If it’s only an incremental improvement people may not go to the trouble of using it. It takes a lot to change people’s behavior. It also needs to have at least some similarity to the existing standard. If it is too new and different then users may be hesitant. Even if it does provide high value if it is too complex and difficult to use people may give up on it. Lastly, how easy is it to try? Can you jump in quickly to give it a test run or do you have to devote huge resources to getting the full experience? People like things that are relatively easy to use. Many of these factors simply have to do with making things simple and easy for your user.
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Have you ever been working on clearing out your closet or spare room but for some reason you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of some of the stuff in it? This article identifies the main struggles behind that difficulty, and I’m sure we all can relate to at least a couple of them. Most of them are rooted in some kind of fear. We might be afraid that our memories and feelings associated with an object will disappear if we get rid of the object, but intellectually I think we all can recognize the memory and the object are totally separate. The memories do not go away if you donate the object. We also might be afraid of giving something away but then needing it one day in the future and having regret from getting rid of it. But how often does that actually happen? And even if it does happen odds are you can find a substitute. Another common issue is guilt if possessions were given to you by a family member. What if your grandma asks if you still have that thing she gave you? But at the end of the day you’re the one sacrificing mental and physical space to hold onto these things. Generally speaking it’s not good to compromise what is best for us solely for the purpose of placating other people. I think this article can really help us let go when we need to.
Real estate investing sounds great right? Save up for the down payment, find a good property, and then just collect those monthly rent checks in perpetuity and profit. But no surprise it is hardly ever that simple. Quite the opposite in fact. Nothing is going to come without work because if it did then everybody else would have flooded and oversaturated the space. This article delves into several of the interesting issues that can make real estate investing, specifically with condos and townhomes, more difficult than you may expect. HOAs can certainly be a headache and hard to predict. I know many people can relate to difficulties from them in their own lives. Other unpredictable difficulties can be finding good tenants, irritating neighbors that share a wall or ceiling with you, unexpected rental covenants from the neighborhood, and of course unforeseen repairs. This article is helpful with knowing what you’re getting into beforehand so that your expectations are realistic.?
It can be easy to underestimate the power that our minds and the expectations they create can have on our physical experience. If we expect to feel tired or angry that usually does manifest itself to at least some degree. This article talks about when we can psych ourselves out from an exercise point of view. If we slept poorly, had our schedule disrupted, or did not get our normal nutrition or workout prep we may be worried that the workout is going to be a waste. But think about how that affects things if you go into a work out expecting it to be bad. Our expectations are not the only thing but they certainly are a big influence. For example, yes it’s not ideal to work out on 5 hours of sleep compared to 7, but don’t make things harder by focusing more on how tired you are. That’s just not helpful. We shouldn’t fill try to fool ourselves and deny reality, but we can help ourselves by not stewing on what things haven’t been ideal.?