How Students Can Benefit From Yoga

Being in college can be a stressful time for students. Anyone who has gone to or is currently attending college knows that. You’ve got professors, exams, projects, and maybe you even hold down a part time or full time job as well as a relationship or even a marriage. All in all, it’s a tough time. So what can you do about it? Try yoga.

Maybe you are already participating regularly in a yoga class. If so, good for you! You have probably already begun to notice the differences in your attitude and stress level. If you haven’t, perhaps it’s time to give it a try.

Here are some great health benefits one can get from doing yoga:

Reduce stress
Open your mind
Lower blood pressure
Improve digestive system
Increase flexibility
Improve sleep patterns
Improve overall health

Also, don’t forget, it’s great exercise! It helps improve and maintain flexibility as well as tone your body.

It may be tricky to fit in a yoga class or two, or it may be difficult to even find the time to exercise when you are cramming for exams or working on class assignments and projects, all while working towards or deciding on a career. However, if you can make time for at least one class a week, or even do a few exercises before bed or first thing when you get up in the morning, it will make a world of difference.

There are many ways students can benefit from practicing yoga on a regular basis. Perhaps some of you are even contemplating on becoming a yoga trainer or class instructor. You could even go further and learn on how to become a personal trainer. This is a great way to make some extra cash on the side as well as get in your regular yoga fix and exercise! It may even help you on how to choose a career!

Is an Accounting Career the right choice for you?

 

Like many colleges students, I was initially unsure what I wanted to major in.  After deciding to pursue a business major, I was required to take two principles of accounting courses. Learning about double entry accounting, accrual accounting methods over cash basis accounting, along with a host of other GAAP accounting methods, quickly lured me into making accounting my official choice of major.  I also enjoyed the growth potentials of being able to obtain my CPA and masters in accounting.  also, the initial salary for an accountant wasn't too bad.  According to to salary.com, the average salary for an accountant with a bachelors degree in the United States is around $44,000.  After receiving my diploma in 2007, I was excited to find my fist position as an accountant.  I was initially offered a position in accounts payable, but was quickly offered a position as an assistant controller.  As an assistant controller, I was sorely disappointed in the job responsibilities accountants are expected to perform. No courses taken in college could have prepared me for what the accounting profession required. These included: 

• looking through hundreds or thousands of transactions in the general ledger, reconciling them, and looking for mistakes
• having to find transaction errors, and finding out who made the mistake so I can find contact them and find out what was done incorrectly
• having to look for missing files
• having to collect on delinquent accounts
• being responsible for sending statements to customers

While some of these responsibilities should logically appear to be something an accountant is responsible for, they were not part of my strengths. Personally, I am not someone that works in any organized fashion, and I get completely irritated if I have to consitently clean up other people’s messes. But on the other hand, I truly enjoyed learning accounting in college.  Therefore, just because you enjoy learning accounting as a subject, doesn’t mean you will enjoy it as a career.  I have now determined my strengths lie more in computer information systems and programming. 

Then who would be a good fit for someone to choose accounting as their profession?  While I find it essential to obtain a degree in accounting, some other essential skills include being someone that is:

·         Always clean and organized

·         Doesn’t mind having to clean up other people’s messes, or at least teaching them how to clean up their own messes next time

·         Is able to stare at numbers on a computer screen all day

·         Extremely patient  and does not become easily irritated over little things

·         Is able to work a lot of overtime, especially during year end

·         Doesn’t mind filling or having to look all over for missing files (although this is changing w/ electronic documentation take over).

Do you enjoy working with numbers?  Do you find interest in being able to take business processes and quantify them into something important for management to make decisions?  If this sounds like you, then a career in accounting might be the right path. While this was my initial perception, after landing my first accounting job, I was sorely mistaken.