You’re not alone if you’ve entered a coffee shop or hardware store and been helped by a part-time employee in their fifties – then considered yourself fortunate you don’t have to work a second job to make ends meet.
Our beliefs, however, define us more than they define others.
Recently I teamed with a leader who’s accomplished just about everything you and I could dream of in a career. When I asked him what his vision for his future was he smiled and answered: “I’m looking forward to serving people in another way.”
How so?
“I want to be that guy in aisle 13 at a hardware store who helps make your weekend perfect because he’s as creative as you.”
I grinned at the corporate executive. He knew what I was thinking.
“People will have no idea,” he said. “It’s my way of living my values.”
What value is that?
“Your job doesn’t define you.”
What actions will define you today?
Perfect comment, concrete and direct to the point!
Glad to see this resonates, Octavio!
Craig – great story on living your values. Easy in concept, hard in reality. It takes courage – especially for people who haven’t yet “accomplished just about everything…”
Jan – Thanks for the reminder that courage is an important element in living a life rich with values (even if we haven’t checked everything off our lists).
Good point, Jan. The allure, the attraction to allowing our work to define us, is subtle and consistent, therefore making it challenging at times to practice the wisdom. I often write these Posts for selfish reasons: Important reminders to self.
Happy Holidays, Jan! Here comes a great 2014 –
Great post! People need a compelling reason to follow your lead, and its all worth to focus to tailor our everyday communications towards that inspiring vision of what we wanted to do and why.
Our vision sets both our personal and our team or organization’s purpose.We develop this partly by understanding the values of the people we work and lead, partly by understanding the capabilities and resources of self and our team, and partly by conducting an intelligent analysis of our environment, and selecting the best way to move forward within it.
Chitra – I love your comment about the three aspects required for us setting our person, team and organization’s purpose. Thanks for your meaningful and important comment!
Sometimes we get lost in the day to day struggles of work and before we know it we get pulled into this world of the job defining who we are. The most important job we have is leading our family and passing on great values and ethics.
Tom: so true! It’s a great reminder as we near a time we’ll spend making rich memories with our families.