Enjoying the Process

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.
—Arnold J. Toynbee

As I’ve written before, I agree with that quote, and doing our income taxes every year is great chance for me to practice.

In the past Andy did the taxes using TurboTax and I did them by hand. This year I decided to use TurboTax too, and it’s fun learning a new toy. We have a couple of discrepancies, which we’re ironing out, but there’s no hurry. And for me that’s the key, to allow plenty of time and enjoy exploring and learning something new. Break the process down into small chunks and don’t be bothered that it’s sometimes confusing. There’s a lot of joy when it all becomes clear.

Do you love learning new things and developing new skills?

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14 Responses to Enjoying the Process

  1. Well not really, but I’ve learnt so much whilst traveling with this silly little rectangular tool. Yesterday,I downloaded the app for my power company & paid the invoice…Today it was two things both requiring me to organise stuff through websites. Had a few moments when said business entity said something like ” not usual computer and sent me a revised code, one to my email, the other a text”
    That’s not to say… that this thing rules, can’t wait to see my laptop again

    • Jean says:

      It makes a difference if you are simply trying to get something done so you can get on with the rest of your life. You have a bigger “rest of your life” than we do. I’m so glad you’re having fun. 🙂

  2. Ann Thompson says:

    Sometimes I do enjoy learning new things and sometimes not. I tend to get frustrated easily when things don’t go right and I can’t figure them out.

  3. tammy j says:

    I’ve always done my tax by hand written form. when I rented… the 1040 EZ and then after buying my house the 1040 so I could apply the interest. since selling the house it’s easy again only this year with changes… no form for EZ! lol. just going with the flow.
    my only irritant is that the print is so tiny I can barely see it. perhaps again because they want everyone to file electronically. I found the tax tables on line and it was a relief to be able to make them larger if I needed to. so this hold-out dinosaur may come to the other side yet!

    • Jean says:

      Yes, the advantage of reading things on the internet is you can enlarge the type. We don’t miss the big booklets of instructions — we now save trees and it’s easy to search for what you want in the online versions.

  4. I love learning new things which is why I’ve spent my adult life going to lectures and leisure time classes. But doing my own taxes is something I would not enjoy doing. I probably could now that I’m retired but I don’t want to.

    • Jean says:

      There are some things I don’t want to do, and like you, I just don’t do them. That works too! Taxes just happen to be one thing I can learn to enjoy.

  5. Audra Adelberger says:

    Once a wise woman told me my dominant emotion was curiosity —and I agreed. So yes, I get great joy from learning new things. Some of the time! It’s getting harder to enjoy finding out about “wonderful new updates and options” on devices. Very tempted to yawn –and then go get curious about some talented author’s latest work.

  6. The OP Pack says:

    Mom does like learning new things – it helps keep the mind young:)

    Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber

  7. Diane Dahli says:

    Just keeping up to the demands of my blog, (including technological glitches!) has me constantly learning. Daily life, also, presents regular challenges—there’s always some new thing to learn, it seems. And no, I don’t always enjoy it. I’d rather learn something that’s more enjoyable, and ‘hands on’, like painting, or building furniture. But thanks for the nudge—it got me thinking.

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