The Bell Tolls for Those With Exact Change

Written By: Dr. Rich Houston, Director of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy

Another rewarding school year in the books. We have the best faculty, staff, students, and culture anyone could ever ask for and I greatly enjoyed all my classes—I think we did good work together. For those of you graduating, we wish you all the best in your endeavors, whatever they may be. But enough about parting.

I’m jealous that Frankie Laine’s heart knows what the wild goose knows and mine doesn’t. I guess I should stop comparing myself to other people.

If you need to be heard, seek out someone who will truly listen.

I never imagined that I’d say “when I was your age” to someone who’s 54. But last week I did.

It’s easy to walk downstairs and take the elevator up. Try climbing the stairs two at a time.

I listened to a podcast and thought I heard the host say: If I let my broken thoughts make me nervous about doing the things I want to do, that’s going to be a problem for the rest of my life. So, I got out there and did what I needed to do. I was determined to not be afraid. I listened again and he really said that he wouldn’t let his fears about recovering from “my broken foot” keep him from hiking…but you get the point.

If you’ve had enough of not living up to your potential, and you’re ready to alter your course, what are you waiting for? I often ask myself, in different contexts, If Not Now, When? Currently, it’s about buying a gravel bike.

I’m always a bit melancholic (a cranky cantaloupe?) when AC311 ends. As is always the case, I met great people, many of whom overcame adversity to triumph in the end—with there being several definitions of both adversity and triumph. I asked people to write about the most important thing they learned about themselves and here’s what a few said:

• With hard work and dedication I can do anything I set my mind to. I also learned that office hours aren’t scary. They can actually be fun.
• That I’m not a machine and that beating myself up for a failure only hurts me in the long run. Work hard but if you fail, relax, learn what you did wrong, and try again. The grass is still green even if the sky is gray.
• I tend to overcomplicate things. I thought 311 was the hardest class in the world but taking it for a second time made me understand how simple it is. Instead of looking at the material and having a panic attack or doubting myself, I learned that I just needed to take a deep breath and feel confident that I know what I’m doing.
• Nothing is that difficult if you put time into it. Practice is the great equalizer.
• The great feeling I have when I realize that I have mastered a difficult accounting problem far outweighs the feeling of frustration that I had when I wasn’t able to do it.
• I steal a lot of joy from myself when I compare myself to everyone around me. Someone will always be smarter, prettier, skinnier, richer, but I’m happiest when I don’t constantly wish to be someone I am not.

• Two are related to something I wrote last month: Some great moments related to Exam 2—one person said, “I’m staying in the class, I’m going to do it,” showing that gaining confidence is a journey worth taking and another whose grade improved by over 50%, showing that exhibiting consistently hard work and strong focus can become learned behavior.

1. The first person, who got a 96 on the final (after scores of 23 and 55) by attending office hours, showing determination, exhibiting a relaxed and contagiously positive demeanor, and striving to understand, not memorize, wrote: It’s going to be fine, it’s all going to work out, and it’s OK not being the smartest person in the room.
2. The second, who ended up getting his highest score on the final, wrote: I’ve learned that, no matter what, I need to trust myself. I called upon my resilience after I failed the first exam and learned a lot about not only accounting but also who I am and what I am capable of. At first, I thought that I wasn’t smart enough to do it, but it turns out that all I wasn’t doing was believing in myself.

I leave you for a few weeks with these thoughts. I am so blessed to have in my life so many great people to say “so long” to while I’m also engaging in meaningful ongoing relationships and starting to get to know others. I was having a conversation with someone about humility, and something hit me like a ton of bricks. It is such a huge honor and responsibility to be so many things to so many people and I thank so many of you for seeing me as “that person.” It means more to me than you know and, when I was your age, I could not imagine that this is what my life would be.

Check out my favorite report card. It’s from the semester where I got a 95 on my first accounting test while I was suffering through economics and feeling clueless in math (how I got a B, I don’t know). It was then that I abandoned my math / economics double major (how I decided on that major, I don’t know) and switched to accounting. Without that 95, I don’t know.

?Here’s what I reflexively typed when someone contacted me to ask how I am: “Everything is great, I am as excited about what I do as I ever have been.”

See you in August. I’ll be the one with bells on.

“Oh, one more thing,” as Columbo would say , just because I think they’re great: