What Finance Taught Me About Myself

The older I get, the more I realise that what I enjoy most about my work isn’t just finance.

Finance just happens to be the place where that part of my personality shows up most clearly.

I’ve spent over twenty years working in finance roles.

Bookkeeper.

Accountant.

Finance Manager.

Financial Controller.

Financial Consultant.

And whilst I enjoy finance, I’ve realised that what excites me isn’t the accounting itself.

It’s understanding how things work.

It’s being curious.

It’s asking questions.

It’s looking at a process, a system, a routine or a way of doing things and wondering whether there’s a better way.

Recently, during a job interview, I was shown an office full of neatly organised, colour-coded files.

They were beautifully arranged.

Very tidy.

Very organised.

The person showing me around seemed quite proud of them.

My immediate thought wasn’t:

“That’s impressive.”

It was:

“Why are we doing this at all?”

That probably says more about me than it does about the files.

I’ve always been like that.

Many people see a finished process.

I see the steps behind it.

Many people see a report.

I see the flow of information that created it.

Many people see a system.

I see possibilities that haven’t yet been used.

The more I think about it, the more I realise that this isn’t limited to my professional life.

It’s how I approach almost everything.

Parenting.

Health.

Relationships.

Learning.

Life.

I find myself constantly asking:

Why?

Does this still make sense?

Is there a better way?

Are we doing this because it works, or because we’ve always done it this way?

Sometimes that curiosity can be frustrating.

Sometimes it leads me down rabbit holes.

But more often than not, it leads to improvement.

And perhaps that’s the part of my personality that has shaped my career more than any qualification, software package or job title ever could.

Not accounting.

Not finance.

Curiosity.

The desire to understand.

And the belief that things can almost always work a little better than they do today.

See, the point is this.

Whether we’re talking about a finance process, a family routine, a health habit or a way of thinking, we often inherit ways of doing things without ever stopping to question them.

Sometimes we become so busy doing something that we never stop to ask why we’re doing it.

We keep producing the report.

Following the routine.

Maintaining the process.

Repeating the habit.

Not because it’s the best way.

But because it’s the way it has always been done.

Every now and then it’s worth pausing and drilling a little deeper.

Asking the uncomfortable questions.

Pulling at the thread.

Looking beyond the task itself and trying to understand the reason behind it.

Because sometimes the answer confirms we’re on the right track.

And sometimes it reveals a better way.

Whether in finance, parenting, health or life, I’ve found that growth often begins with a simple question:

“Why are we doing this at all?”