AYD - June 30, 2011 - Tough Jobs are Filled with Life Lessons

"The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do."
- Thomas Edison

Let's be honest, the most obvious of these habits is good old fashioned Hard Work.

I had a job once that I thought was pretty simple.  Basic labour work.  Sweeping floors in a Fabrication shop.  All day, sweep.  All day tomorrow...sweep.  Some other odds and ends, and then, yup...sweep.  I did my job...and one day a Journeyman at the shop took it upon himself to teach me how to sweep properly. The lesson represented one of my most insightful of my life. Understanding that even something as simple as sweeping, had a more beneficial way to be done - opened my eyes to giving more quality effort in any task I had to do.

From that day on, more so than before, I embraced every task I was given. I would finish a job and while I waited around for direction from my foreman, I stayed busy doing whatever around me needed to be done. I was always in motion. There was always something to do, and it did not have to wait until I was told to do it. And yes, some of those tasks were tedious, boring and just not interesting. What I did not know, was that I was also being noticed. I was also making a difference because I was getting things done.

The value of my actions was shown to me indirectly when lay offs came. I was the least experienced out of four of us Labourers. I worked with a couple seasoned guys who made it pretty clear that they considered themselves too experienced and too good to do some of the work we were given. They said so, loud and clear. Last coffee came, and as I patiently waited for my envelope and my departure letter, the other three guys came in angry...and didn't even say goodbye. They all had envelopes.

I was not a bad worker, yet I still learned alot that day. The message was pretty clear, and hard to miss. And I remember to this day, why they kept this inexperienced, quiet, no complaining kid. I was the only labourer in that shop for some time after that, and somehow even the Project Manager knew my name and would stop me in the shop to ask me how I was doing.

You can leave a lasting impression, and create a solid name for yourself, just by applying your best effort...sometimes to the job no one else wants to do.

May you find a moment this morning that Awakens Your Day.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, "Hi Dad", Author and Friend