The Accounting Choice

After I graduated college I began my work life as an accountant. I had a rude awakening about the 2^nd week when I overheard pay conversations from another cubicle. That’s where a man was talking to his wife on the phone and I overheard it. Yes, I did the Dilbert grey cubicle thing for 2 weeks and that’s where I learned the difference in pay scale between a man and a woman…Something that Bob Charles, Sr. didn’t do but, corporate accounting did.

It was a rude wake up call. I hated that because accounting doesn’t require heavy lifting. In that era it was pencil pushing and report generating and computers were just entering the field… I simply was a woman, who graduated from a local college and not an Ivy League school. I got $19k to start and he got $27k to start…. We started on the same day. We had the same position and the same experience level coming in. I left that afternoon, no notice and talked with no one.

 Hoping to be normal?

I had planned my whole existence around when I graduated and landed that big job…cuz I wanted to be “Normal” and for some reason I thought…I wasn’t “Normal”….and I’m not “Normal”…only I couldn’t embrace it at that poor self esteem level.

 I went back to McDonalds for a few months to sort things out and then it hit me…I want to become a police officer.

And so I was hired in Boulder County at the city of Lafayette, Colorado. They paid me to go through the police academy. So again, I had found a way to get paid leadership training. It was 15 weeks of paid academy training and 15 weeks of paid field training.

This gave me more confidence and self-esteem as well as the ability to protect myself. I learned about having a command presence about me along with all the take down techniques and general officer safety protocols for patrol officers. We had an academy of about 50 cadets and 6 of us were women and 2 of the women were from the Department of Wildlife. Once again I noticed just how imbalanced the workforce was. When I applied there were 900 applicants and I was number 7 chosen out of 12 spots from my department. This gave me confidence. I did well on my interviews and I have Bob Charles to thank for that. I scored really well on my leadership skill tests because of what I learned from him.

 I learned how powerful thinking was

However, the leadership skills I developed, during my very short time being a police officer, were the most important. This is where I learned how powerful thinking is. I also began to really learn how to “Think.” I learned all about thinking and investigation, understanding motives and how thinking played a big role in the outcome of a crime scene. When I would investigate or talk to someone I learned more about how the masses thought. Most importantly, I also had to examine the way I learned to think and how I currently thought. This was an extraordinarily powerful and transforming moment for me. In fact, it was another defining moment.

I learned that “thinking” is the most unexplored powerful force in the world. People committed suicide because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. They committed murder because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. They beat their spouses, girlfriends or family because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. They kidnap and rape because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. They committed crimes of all kinds because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. People spent time in jail for a crime because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. People drink themselves blind because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. They hated themselves because of an unhealthy, untrue thought. I had self hate because of an unhealthy, untrue thought.

 Released me from the most painful prison I had known

Learning this released me from the most painful prison I had known, the prison of my self hate. I knew that if I was ever going to be a successful leader I had to have the self leadership within me to begin policing my thinking and managing it daily until I thought the way I wanted to think. I became almost obsessive with learning about how people thought. I didn’t want to be a cop anymore. I just wanted to understand why people thought like they did and how I could improve my thinking.

I did not know the book “Think and Grow Rich” yet, so the first book I re-read was Ray Kroc’s “Grinding It Out.” It was mandatory reading for managers at Bob’s organization. This time while I read, I focused on how Ray thought. Well, then the bug bit me and I started reading autobiography books and spiritual books to learn more about thinking. I would read about 5 a month and that’s when I learned that I no longer wanted to be “Normal.” Because I now thought “Normal” thinking sucked.

I stopped being a police officer and went back to a small accounting job and cocooned myself up and continued reading biographies of what I thought were “great thinkers” and a lot of these great thinkers were entrepreneurs. I felt very lost during this time and did not know what to do. I spent a couple of years in limbo. I learned that I did not like anyone or anything having authority over me or my time. I learned I was not a great employee and began my first journey into contract labor…which taught me how to test the water by becoming an independent contractor and selling my accounting services…that’s part 3.

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May you direct your dreams.

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