“Work hard, play hard.”

Though we’ve all probably heard this saying, perhaps more of us should take it to heart.

Recently, I took a day to go down to our Wilmington, Delaware office to work and then go to lunch with Brooke, a tax manager, and Kathy, who is in our small business department.

Brooke always knew she wanted to do something in business, but ended up getting her undergraduate degree in accounting because of the puzzles and challenges the field offers. She worked in internal audit initially, but she had to travel a lot and ended up getting out of the accounting world for a while to focus on family. When she decided to get back to working, she started working in tax, ended up getting a Master in Taxation degree, and as you all know she’s now here at Stephano Slack. She gave me advice very similar to Pat’s, for those who have been reading my posts. She reminded me that a work-life balance is important – you can’t miss out on the things you love and family time just to work crazy hours and retire with no hobbies. Thus her line, “work hard, play hard.”

Kathy, on the other hand, didn’t originally know she would end up in a business field, especially in accounting, but ultimately did end up getting her undergraduate degree in it. She also started out working in internal audit, and then ended up working for a holding company before finding her way to Stephano Slack. Her advice to me was that I should always stand up for myself and ask for the things I want and deserve in life, as well as to make sure I always find the time to do the things I love. Notice a trend? Work hard. Play hard.

Before I left the Delaware office the day we had lunch, Kathy added another piece of advice: keys need some kind of tracker or beeper on them so you can find them when you lose them, so I should really find a way to get something like that for my keys.  (Can you guess what Kathy lost and found that day?) On this final fun note, if Kathy wasn’t an accountant, she’d be a physical therapist. If Brooke wasn’t an accountant, she’d be a knitter, if she could just get paid enough to knit all day. Perhaps more attainable, she would live in a tiny house (like the ones you see on TV or Facebook). In a perfect world, she’d probably be knitting all day in a tiny house on a beach somewhere.

Visit Stephano Plus