At some point in your life you end up realizing what really matters in life. Or maybe not.
It’s hard to imagine that I’m starting my third year at a Big 4 accounting firm. As I reflect my experiences, truthfully I can’t tell you what I traded two years of my life for. I know I’ve developed great accounting skills. But if you tell that to anyone outside of accounting, they could care less. It certainly has not drawn any chicks. I almost want to say that I wasted two years of my life.
In college, everybody wanted to get into the Big 4. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would not have taken them up on this offer. But, ask me another day and my answer may be different.
The end goal is always to live a better life. I seriously do not know what I have today that I didn’t have back then. In fact, I think I actually lost friends because of this job. People begin to think you are ignoring them during busy season. The truth is you are working ungodly hours and don’t even have time to sleep! So, you put yourself in their shoes and force yourself to nurture your relationship. Well, you are so exhausted from those long hours that when you meet them for the first time in six months, you don’t even have the energy to be enthusiastic. They take it the wrong way and figure you are not interested in seeing them.
Having your dream job, dream car, dream house, and dream girlfriend, etc. is what it is - just a dream. To a certain degree, if you are out there “collecting” these situations, you mind as well try to win the lottery. There are too many external factors that affect the chances of you landing that great job. This includes whether your dream job even exists. Even then suppose it isn’t in the area you are living. Would you leave your dream house, if it meant you’d get your dream job? You’d think you’d be able to have both, which may be the case, but what about having all ten of your dreams fulfilled?
I am future focused. My belief is if I focus on laying a solid foundation today, tomorrow I will reap the benefits. I’d gladly pay the price today and delay my reward for an even greater reward tomorrow. If only, life worked in such a systematic way. What you put in, you may not necessarily get back. Even if you do get it back, who knows when you will be able to collect?
Live for the present because who knows if you’ll have a tomorrow.