You grow up believing you know exactly what success looks like.

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The sequence seems pretty clear, ie.

Study hard -> Qualify -> Get a job -> gain experience -> and keep climbing the corporate ladder

• qualify,
• get a good job + gain experience
• Keep climbing the corporate ladder.
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When you’re beginning your journey, studying your heart away, this all sounds simple enough. But when you realise how quickly life will show you flames alongside that growing, successful career, it hits you. At 25, just 5 years into my career as a professional accountant, I now know the real challenge is juggling my career with life's stresses.

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I know this way too well. In the last year of my career, I’ve had some huge milestones:

• Coming into senior responsibilities in my team
• Getting married to the love of my life
• And currently preparing for motherhood.

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When you combine all of these, your perspective shifts and the question changes very quickly. Instead of: ‘how do I get ahead and be successful like everyone else in this business?’, You’re now left wondering: ‘how do I grow without compromising on my responsibilities?’.

No one truly prepares you for the world of work. During your university years, your lecturers provide you with a foundation for your qualification. Once you get the qualification, you earn credibility. But beyond that? It’s every woman for herself. Very early on, you realise that success is about confidence, not just knowing the right answers.

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A moment that will always stick with me during my articles

Being 21 and newly qualified (still finding my footing even though I have that qualification!), I was asked to research an accounting topic and present my findings – it may seem straightforward, but for a numbers girl this was a nightmare.

This presentation was in a large boardroom in front of about 20 people, most of whom had significantly more experience than I did. I distinctly remember the mix of nerves and self-doubt I felt going in there - not knowing what questions to expect or what reactions I would get. Very quickly, I realised there was no way I could run away from this. Rather, I should take charge and own it. I went in there, created one of the best PowerPoint presentations in the firm (yes, the partner confirmed this), shared my research, and answered every question posed to me.

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It was at this point that I realised (and very, very early on in my career) that being ‘ready’ is not a requirement for responsibility.

Sometimes, you need to be like Nike: just doing it is what makes you ready.

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This presentation did not make me confident overnight, but it was definitely one of the moments that helped build it. I was then approached by the partner a few more times to research and present on additional topics throughout my articles – which I handled with ease. It's very easy to fall into a comparison trap, watching how quickly others move up and progress.

But it’s a very important realisation that career growth isn’t linear and it is definitely unique to each individual.

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There are seasons when your pace may shift, but that does not mean you are falling behind; it simply means you are adapting.

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Balancing career growth with major life change isn’t about ‘having it all at once’. It’s about learning how to be honest about your capacity, communicating openly and clearly, letting go of perfection and focusing on long-term progress. Because success isn’t defined by a single season – it's shaped over tie me.

5 years into my career, the biggest lessons that I have learnt, in addition to the technical teachings, are about navigating uncertainty and building confidence gradually, all while managing expectations and delivering outcomes, both professionally and personally.

Being a young accountant isn’t just about mastering a profession; it's about growing into it, while at the same time, growing into each season of your life.

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Perhaps the most important realisation is that you don’t have to choose between building a career and building a life; you just have to learn how to build them together at your own pace.