Conversation with my daughter

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
Perhaps my favorite part of my day is putting the kids to bed.  Not just because it means a couple hours of peace! I simply love the little conversations I get to have with them before they go down. And on Wednesday, I had a conversation with little Eden, which just about broke my heart…[As you picture the conversation, imagine it coming from the mouth of this one:]

As I kissed her goodnight, she said: “Daddy, what were you and Mommy doing when we were in Ethiopia…waiting for you?” [ouch]
“Oh, sweetie…we were working as hard as we could to get to you fast and bring you home.”
“But…why did it take so long, Daddy? Me and Caleb were waiting and waiting and waiting for you…”
What can you say to that? I did my best to explain to her that we had to wait for a lot of other people to do what they needed to do before we could get there. I told her that we would *never* leave her, and would always love her.
She seemed mollified…but I didn’t realize that her little 4-year-old mind had internalized the wait as she did. As I said–broke my heart.
I thought of this today when I sat down to write you–in the midst of your tax season, with 27 days left and you’re ‘in the thick’. Why does success sometimes take longer than it should? Why the wait, sometimes…the deferred hope?
Well, obviously the answer for each tax or accounting professional will be slightly different–but a few commonalities *I’ve* observed in tax/accounting businesses stuck in a rut, *waiting* for success:
1) Failure to try anything different (the ol’ definition of insanity), *waiting* for success to ‘strike’.
2) Modeling from the wrong sources: other tax/accounting professionals especially.
*3) Large client turnover because of communication breakdowns, or the lack thereof.
Does that sound like you, Test? Well, the best news–today’s the last day of winter, and spring is here. Which is a visual reminder that *nothing* need be permanent.
All it takes is some perseverance, and working *right* (not just “smart”). After all, stories of successful persistence abound–if you pay attention. F.W. Woolworth, the founder of the massive retail chain, got a pay cut on his first job from $10 to $8 a week. The reason? He couldn’t sell. Well, that changed, huh?
You’re probably pretty busy right now, so…I’ll leave it there for this week.
Don’t give up. [“27 more days…”]