Who are you?

It sounds simple enough, doesn't it? We all know who we are. Maybe you define yourself by your job (Accountant, Bookkeeper, Artist, Musician, Shopkeeper, Cashier, CEO, Salesperson, Human Resource Professional...) Or your relationship to others (Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle, Daughter, Son, Grandmother, Grandfather ...) Or your heritage, geographical origins, or educational status. These external identifiers, often assigned to us by others, can go on for pages.

But who are you really? I am a CPA. (See how I define myself?) I have been speaking and writing and working with my peers in bookkeeping and accounting for years. It seems to me that in general, we have a very hard time answering this question.

You see, there is this mantle of professionalism that we accounting types put on each day as we head off to our appointed tasks. We are dealing with numbers and businesses and financial results. We must be ethical. We must get payroll in on time. We must be accurate. We must be dedicated and hard-working and must never give up. We must work nights and weekends to meet deadlines and we must be there to assist when a business or financial decision has to be made. It is a weighty role. It never seems to stop. There is always another deadline. (And yes, I know there are others who take on so much more responsibility for lives and cures and health and welfare. But I can only speak from my own experience. ) Like dedicated workers of all kinds, we care deeply about the work we do and we really want to help. But we keep wearing that heavy mantle.

It took me a number of years to find out that my journey to define myself as a partner in a CPA firm lead to a dead end. I got to the end of that road. And then I knew. I had been on the wrong path. I had no idea what the right path was, but I felt at that moment that I needed to find out. And so after 15 years of trying to achieve a goal, the moment I achieved it, I walked away. It felt like I could breathe for the first time in years.

You see, I had a creative voice that I couldn't hear.

It was buried as I worked longer and harder to try to be the detailed, organized, accurate accountant I was "supposed" to be. The small voice kept yearning to be heard but I had no time.

Once I found my way to speaking about communication and numbers in a way that made me smile, the voice became louder.

Eventually, I named this small but loving and slobbery voice my inner basset hound and I started to celebrate it.

The idea crystallized in the months of absolute panic I went through while preparing to give a TEDx talk and has become my key to moving forward on days when I lose faith in my abilities or beat myself up for my failings. Rather than fighting them or trying to hide them, I have learned to embrace these very failings as a key component of who I am - nerdy? you bet, southern? yes ma'am, passionate about grits? DUH!

My goal these days is to share what I have learned so that no one else has to feel alone, or isolated, or depressed, or less than whole. I know I am not a great inspirational speaker like Mike Dooley (a former CPA by the way) nor shall I ever be, but I hope I can make a small difference for people like me - accountants and bookkeepers and the business people who need them. I have been very fortunate to have given a number of keynote talks on this very subject. But I want to do more.

Online Event

I have joined forces with the incredible team @LivePlan to take this message to those who need to hear it on February 1, 2017 ( you will have filed all of those 1099's by then.) The topic is Standing Out In Your Field and if this message resonates with you, join us.

Otherwise, please take the time now to listen to that small voice of yours. Life is so much sweeter when you can breathe freely and openly without that cloak of perfection that you have been wearing for so long.