AWSCPA's Financial Services Corporate Sponsor:

THE BALANCING ACT
By Moritza Day, CPA. AWSCPA Past Houston Affiliate President

Because we are Americans, we have a work ethic that has been ingrained in us since Puritan times.  We work hard, clocking the least amount of vacation taken in the industrial world.  Even the Swiss and Japanese take off more time than Americans.  My German friend Karl-Heinz sends me postcards from vacations in Europe and America at least three times per year, reminding me that our European counterparts are enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle than us harried Americans.

So how do we balance work and life – really- how do we balance our lives?  Do a 360 and stand in the middle of the variations of lifestyles.  Look around, and see how resourceful professionals balance their lives.

From working mothers with children, to a single father who plays a very active role in raising his daughter, to a daughter who is a caregiver to her elderly parent, to single professionals, we will peek into the balancing act of these professionals.

Working mothers are the first examples we think of in considering life balance.  Typically the primary caregivers for children, women must be creative in managing their lives.  Maureen Saunders, Vice President of Encore Bank credits her husband’s understanding and the flexibility of being a bank officer to her success as a mother, wife and working woman.  Carolyn Weaver, CPA, President of funcpe.com started her own company to blend her entrepreneurial creativity and her desire for flexibility in raising her seven year old son. 

How else do working professionals balance their lives?  By choosing priorities and accepting the tradeoffs.  Single father Jesse Daves, consultant with litigation and tax consulting firm J.A. Compton chose his number one priority, parenting his daughter Emma.  He feels that his career progress and time with his daughter has been a satisfying blend.  Arquela Hargrove, HR manager with a litigation settlement facility clearly delineated her priorities:  faith first, then family, then work, then herself. 

So how do these hard working professionals treat themselves?  Arquela Hargrove takes a spa day each month to relax and regenerate.  Maureen Saunders takes a girl’s vacation with her friends and a weekend trip with her husband each year.  She said,” They (vacations) help me feel like I am a wife and a stand alone person”.

A growing reality for baby boomers is that many become caregivers to their aging parents.  Patti Marek, Director, Beauty Control, shares caregiving responsibility for her Alzheimer afflicted mother with her sister.  Because of the flexibility of her job as sales manager, she is able to juggle her responsibilities.  Among many compromises, she is no longer able to attend her yoga class.  Her yoga teacher personally videotaped her class for her and Patti continues her therapeutic yoga practice at home.

What’s the trade off of balancing your life?  Translate this to not spending every waking hour at work to further your career.  Maureen Sanders noted that the women in her industry with higher positions do not have children and/or a significant other.  She ruminates, “I think I would have gotten further in my career without the distraction of a family life –however I would not trade my husband or children for anything in the world!”

Carolyn Weaver noted positive results to her choices.  Because she now works at home, she noticed, “Since I have reduced the number of restaurant meals I eat, I have improved my diet somewhat.  I also have a little more time and flexibility to for example, go for a long walk in the middle of the day”.  Carolyn made financial sacrifices to start and maintain her business so she could spend more time with her son, but she commented, “It was difficult but not impossible to reduce my consumption to align with my reduced income”.

What about single people?  With potentially fewer people vying for their time, they have it made?  Juggling priorities is still a challenge with single professionals as well.  Jane Tillinghast, CPA, balances a successful tax practice and volunteer work in numerous civic and professional activities.  One of her challenges is not to be overextended in her volunteer activities in order to have time for her practice and personal life.  Jim Tabor, hospice nurse, organized his life to have relatively low expenses so that he can work 2-3 days per week as a nurse, pay his bills and have plenty of time off.  Like Carolyn Weaver, Jim traded money for time in his balancing act.

The bottom line is that managing lives is a conscious choice of priorities, trade-offs and demands constant focus.  These professionals showed that creative approaches to life balance result in successful, productive work, and more importantly, successful, satisfying lives.

Moritza Day, CPA is an accounting recruiter and career and hiring strategist.   For 20 years, she has helped companies and accounting professionals search for and find the best opportunities available in the marketplace.  Her firm, Day West & Associates, Inc., is an accounting recruiting and career and hiring consulting group.  Day West was named as #23 of the Houston 100, the 100 privately held firms making the greatest impact on Houston. Moritza began her business career as an auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in England and Arthur Andersen & Co in Houston.   She was an internal auditor for banks and savings and loans, working at institutions now called Bank of America, Sterling Bank and Washington Mutual.  Moritza has a BBA in Accounting cum laude from the University of Houston and is a CPA in the state of Texas.   She is a member of the Bauer Alumni Association Board of Directors as well as a committee chair for the Houston CPA Society. Moritza is the author of Networking to Build Your Success and the co- author of 1000 Best Job Hunting Secrets.