January is behind me, and “busy season” for public accountants is in full swing. Apparently February gets even more intense than January, but the light at the end of that tunnel is that things start to slow down a little bit in March (so they tell us).

In a way, working so much is enjoyable, because I’m learning that I can survive while working 10 hour days for 6 days a week (at least). I think a lot of people my age, including myself, don’t know what it’s like to really have to work. We go to college, are encouraged to socialize and figure out what we’re passionate about, and then we graduate and head into the working world expecting to get a job working somewhere where we’ll really be appreciated for our expensive degree. (A lot of people my age did learn about working hard with little appreciation at a much earlier age, so that is definitely not a blanket observation of all recent college grads.)

Whatever I do next in life, whether it’s getting my PhD, starting my own business, or continuing on at this CPA firm, I think the mindset that working a 10-12 hour day with no weekend is reasonable if that’s what you need to get the job done.

It’s a bit like the mental state I need when trying to push myself to keep running when I start getting tired (usually a quarter of a mile in! I’m not a great runner, so mybe this is a bad analogy?). Just because you’re feeling a little fatigued is no reason to stop - your body has the ability to keep going.

I imagine that will serve me well if I ever start my own business, since entrepreneurship takes so much dedication to get everything going.

Then again, those of you out there who have been working hard for years are probably laughing at me right now since this is just a normal way of being for you!