“Plan But Leave Room For Adjustments” (From Accountancy to TEFL #3)

On By Kingston LimIn From Accountancy to TEFL
Plan but leave room for adjustments Kingston S. Lim

About the ACC to TEFL Series: In this series, I recount my journey, logic and reasoning behind making the shift from accountancy in Reno, NV to TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Story

After finishing my 3rd year of college when I got brushed off by one of my accounting professors as being nothing special, I had an internship that took me from Nevada to Upstate New York.

Partly to advance my career, partly out of desperation to find something to do over the summer. I was out in the small city of Rome, NY all by myself. I had a semester left of college before I graduated. That last summer as a college boy, I told myself I would use it as a trial run of being in the real world.

I was working a day job and living on my own. I was set. I bought and cooked healthy food, and went to the gym. This 12 week summer internship was going to prepare me for what’s next.

The government accounting work wasn’t interesting, but that didn’t matter. I charted out how much money I was going to save from a steady accounting career and how soon I was going to be able to retire. Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE). I read so many blogs about people doing this. I just had to hold out until I was 30, then I could travel the world with no worries of money.

I sprinted along with youthful enthusiasm and by the time I returned to Reno, NV for my last semester of undergrad and peers/professors discussed the extra effort needed to become a CPA that went beyond undergraduate studies, I began to have my reservations, but I went along with it like the good little boy I’ve been since starting college.

A monologue of this story.

The Lesson

You now I was so caught up in the now, I failed to account for changes. Because we operate on imperfect information and no one can predict thing with a 100% degree of certainty, the closer we get the more that fog of war lifts.

That is the more time that passes the information available becomes better. And it’s important to act on that better information. So you plan but leave room for adjustment.

For me, I began having a gnawing feeling that this accounting career was a line fed to me and that I bought into. This newly acquired information that I had at the end my undergraduate career was something I was unwilling to account for because I was caught up in the sunk cost fallacy…

Which will be left for next time.

Plan, But Leave Room  For Adjustment Kingston S. Lim

Previous Posts:

“Going Practical” (From Accountancy to TEFL #1)

“Caught in a Rat Race” (From Accountancy to TEFL #2)

Contact
Kingston Stephen Lim
kingston@kingstonlim.com

43 thoughts on ““Plan But Leave Room For Adjustments” (From Accountancy to TEFL #3)”

  2. You gave me quite a giggle this early Thursday morning… how gullible we all are😂🤣 Thank goodness some of us see through it and do get to enjoy life in all its grandiose❤️ Thanks for following my blog… you’d be better though following my new blog. Not sure why people still go to my old one!?

    https://www.memymagnificentself.com

    Will enjoy coming back to follow your story❤️ love Barbara x

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  11. That’s the joy and the feast of life. No-one ever truly knows for certain what tomorrow holds for them, never mind next year, or in a decade, or two… All we can do is follow our instincts, and our hearts maybe, and gracefully accept what comes. Two ‘wise saws’ from the gurus in my life: Lennon ‘life is something that happens while you are making other plans’ and from a personal role model ‘do what you love and do it well, the money is something that just comes’. Thank you for following me, I gladly reciprocate!

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  18. Life can be a mystery! And we all need good advice! Especially starting out on a looong journey
    like ‘life’ itself! In order not to waste too much time, you need to find sound advice and information that can be checked out and trusted!
    Decide your final goal and plan how to get there – step by step and – go for it!
    It is most useful to give yourself a time limit for reaching every step on the way! That way you will at an early point discover if you may attack a problem from a different angle and with increased vigor?! (Thanks for the ‘follow’! I hope you will like what you find!)

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