Volcanic Lemonade
This piece posted in full by permission of my friend Rob Nance, Publisher of Accounting Web, Inc. They can be found on Twitter and Linked In.
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” so goes the saying. My business trip to the UK was cancelled today (and for the unforeseeable future) due to Iceland’s volcanic ash drifting to lands far and wide. If I made a list of 100 different scenarios for such a business trip to be cancelled, I seriously doubt that Icelandic volcano chud would have made the list—or even entered my mind, for that matter. Storms, terrorism, mechanical failure, aliens, troublesome geese…those types of situations would have been on the list, but a volcano in Iceland? No way!
Disappointed in not being able to make the trip? Sure, but it’s completely out of my control, so there’s no need to harp on it. What is within my control is what I do with this upcoming week. For the first time in my work life, I have a calendar without any scheduled meetings and calls. This horribly rare opportunity provides challenges:
1) To not get too immersed in the day-to-day business, which I had planned to be away from anyway.
2) Use the time to bring new dynamic opportunities, partnerships, strategic developments, etc., to life without the normal shackles of the typical daily demands.
While it’s unfortunate that the trip, which is always very worthwhile, won’t occur…it’s also exciting to think about what I can try to make happen with holes in the calendar.
As an accountant, you have dealt with the “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” predicament numerous times. Please feel free to post here what you did to maximize opportunity (with clients, the IRS, in your firm, etc.) when circumstances were unfavorable.
I took a walk to relax and unwind; then I sought out an industry article that related to my client so as to deepen my grounding.
I got called on the carpet for something that I did not believe was my fault. My boss pointed to a strongly worded memo from the corporate CFO detailing a host of tasks meant to contain and mitigate the problem resulting from my alleged lapse. I posited my theory that the CFO was an anal retentive, knee-jerk poster boy for ADHD who, among other things, had once insisted that I be included in a budget related conference call two days after I had had major surgery. The result was that I was fired and replaced. I’ve been out of work for 19 months now, but I am still happier than I was when I was still working for that bastard. Is that like lemonade?