Sometimes we have a tendency to forget the things that we were programmed with as kids, and then along comes something that smacks us right in the face. This was the case this week with a note I found while going through some other things. Some of you may recognize the handwriting, some may not, but this was my mom's penmanship. She wrote this little note about career and kept this on the wall behind her desk. I suspect this gave her something to think about during those times her career wasn't all she wanted it to be. I read this and then I remembered words my father said to me on more than one occasion. He told me that he would rather have me be a good ditch digger than a lousy attorney. Obviously, I ended up as neither of those, but I think that the meaning is something I have tried to carry, sometimes more successfully than at other times. As an example, I remember going to my ten year class reunion and found myself almost apologizing for what I was doing for a career. Looking back on it now, that career provided a good living and let me live comfortably within my means. What more can any of us ask?
Tuesday was a long day here, work did not go well and I left in foul humor - just ask Sara or anyone that I interacted with. If you check with my team, they will tell you that there was some residual left by the time I arrived at our Wednesday morning meeting. To finish Tuesday off, on her way home from class, the truck Sara was driving stopped working and wouldn't restart. The good part was that she was safe, the bad part was that we ended up sitting at a Casey's for about an hour waiting a tow truck to take it to Jack's so that it could get fixed the next day.
That isn't the point of the story. In the middle of all of this, I met a person who was a true joy. His name was Kenny, and he was the driver that the folks at Crow Towing sent to take care of us. He was the consummate professional, showing the same care for a Ford F150 with almost 160K miles that he would have shown with a just-off-the-showroom-floor Corvette. All the time that he was doing the work, he also communicated with me as to what he was doing and why, and how things had changed over the years in his business. I can tell you for sure that if I had needed brain surgery, I would have gone someplace else, but to take care of our truck, you could not have found better care or someone more helpful.
In dealing with Kenny and our truck, I was reminded of a man who worked with me at Payless Cashways on Hickman Road a bunch of years ago. His name was Jack. He came to work as a yard/warehouse person and struggled with the concept of staying busy. Early in his time there, if he didn't have something to do, he would just stand, or lean, against a bunk of lumber. I remember working with him repeatedly, helping him understand that there is always something to do, and when people see you standing around, they wonder what value you bring to the organization. Jack became a very good employee, and a nice person just to be around. I remember the day he came to tell me that he had gotten another job, a better job in his eyes. He was going to work at Iowa Methodist as a janitor. He was the happiest person I had ever seen, and I would almost bet he is still there today.
I know there are times that I haven't necessarily been happy with what I was doing. There have also been times I wasn't proud of what I was doing. But in hindsight, I do believe that focusing on the career/job and doing the best I could has always been the thing that made it possible for my family to do everything we wanted to do. I remember my boss telling me one day that if I focused on the current job, and did the best that I could possibly do, the next job would always take care of itself. Thus far, I've found that to be true. I've watched others who were always chasing the big career and could never quite get there. I guess that whatever you are, whether it is a lawyer or baker, carpenter or author, sales guy or CFO; being productive, effective, and happy are the real important things. It helps carry us through the hard times, along with some of the tremendous people that we get to meet along the way.
So, I will go to work tomorrow and remember the words that my mom thought were important enough to put over her desk.
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