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| James Waters, Langdowns DFK Accounts and Audit Manager |
Sometimes in life you are presented with an opportunity that is too hard to ignore. As some of you may know, outside of my role as Audit and Accounts Manager at Langdowns DFK, I am also a keen sailor. Recently, my wife and I were lucky enough to be given the chance to explore some remote and beautiful parts of the world on an extended sailing adventure in the Indian Ocean later this year.
But with this great experience, also comes the practicalities of life. Can we actually make this happen? How will it affect our careers? What will be the perceptions in our firms? Can we manage financially?
As always, there were a multitude of conflicting thoughts about this, but in the end, a nagging thought over-rode everything else. How could we not do everything possible to make this happen?
After the initial discussions at work, came the evenings reviewing time reports, work planners and staff capacity analysis to identify when would be the best time for the firm and the team before making my final proposals.
A big personal challenge came when discussing this with the key people who would be affected and explaining to them how much this meant to us. Anything like this is going to mean extra work for others, and when you are a close knit team, you need to be aware that you will be asking others for help.
What I learned from this process is that, although it’s not easy to ask more of others, if you have a great team around you, you don’t need to be afraid to ask for support to achieve your goals, and importantly, don’t let the fear of doing so to hold you back.
In the end, unlike those who revere reality TV stars, the people we look up to are those who have seen the world and taken their chances. So sometimes when you do see the opportunity for adventure, the only option is to take the leap and to make it happen.
In the words of Mark Twain… “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
And thanks to Langdowns DFK that’s exactly what we plan to do!
Stay tuned for updates from my adventure.
