Finding joy in the personal and professional

With the busy and rainy seasons over, it’s officially summer in Oregon! Each year I arrive in June breathing a little easier. The warmer temperature, beautiful blossoms, smell of the trees and fresh air stop me in my tracks and remind me to get outside more and appreciate the little and BIG things that bring me joy.

It’s already been a busy first month of my term but a fun and exciting month. Over the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to represent the OSCPA in Washington, DC; our team met with five of our Oregon Representatives and Senators including Senator Wyden. We were able to share what’s important to our profession including discussing our talent pipeline, designating accounting as part of STEM, and advocating for issues important to business, our clients, and our profession, such as extending certain tax provisions set to expire and simplifying the tax filing dates to name a few. Advocacy is so important both at a state and a national level, and I was humbled to be able to represent OSCPA.

As chair I’ve also had the privilege to congratulate Oregon’s successful exam candidates and top exam scorers, new CPAs, top students, and milestone members of the OSCPA while hosting the Circle of Excellence. And along with AICPA Chair Anoop Meta, CPA, CGMA, I was grateful to meet and speak to young professionals at our annual Strategic Leadership Forum, to tell them about this profession and to see the talented future leaders who will guide our association and profession.

Outside of my first month as chair, I’ve also made sure to make time and appreciate the joy in my personal life. For me, that joy is family. It has been a hectic few weeks for my family from the high school sports season culminating in a second back-to-back baseball state championship for my son and my daughter finishing her first year on JV softball, not to mention academic achievements including high school graduation! We spent time as a family and extended family celebrating their accomplishments and connecting with each other. It’s been a time of celebration and joy. I can’t wait to see what the future holds as my son heads to college in the fall and my daughter enters her junior year.

I also find joy every day in my profession. I’ve been an accountant for over 20 years. After such consistent work, it can be easy to fixate on challenges that arise. For example, “How can we better meet our client’s needs?” or “Where can we gain efficiency?” While problem-solving can be motivating and help team members come together with common cause, it can – after a while – start to unintentionally diminish joy.

As a leader, I remind myself and my team continuously of their strengths and how their skills helped us achieve our client’s goals. This can be as simple as debriefing a client meeting with a mentee and taking the time to reflect, pinpointing, for example, their great active listening, how well they empathized with a client and showed their care, or even how they stood firm in their ethics. Helping others grow professionally and serving clients, you guessed it, bring me joy.

My goal for 2023 is to show myself the same attention, leadership, compassion, and joy that I hope I give to others. One way I’ve begun to do so is to journal daily. More specifically, I write down at least one positive thing about me, every day. Many journal practices center on writing about something positive. It’s easy to come home tired and not be present for the ones we love. But by taking a moment to give myself my due, I come into the office a bit more refreshed and more present for my team, I notice positive trends I can be grateful for, and I can better contextualize challenges by focusing on how my unique skill set prepares me to tackle anything that comes my way. It also allows me to come home and shift the focus to my family. To be truly present for them. To share my joy with my work family and my actual family.

With today in mind, what’s one positive thing about yourself that brought you joy? For me, I’m thrilled to be writing to you all. I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent our state on a national level and bring Oregon’s voice not only to DC, but to the AICPA and AICPA Council on an international level. I encourage you to reach out to the next generation and invite them to be a part of the OSCPA so that we can continue to build our leadership and remain impactful to the profession. The OSCPA has shaped my career and life for the better, and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve in stewarding the Society together.

Read more about our OSCPA Board of Directors.