“Hey – I’ve got a job for you!”
Do you cringe every time you hear that question? Somehow you know the job isn’t glamorous. You’re not getting your name up in lights for doing it. And you’re certainly not making a million dollars.
Are you already wishing your boss would get someone else?
OK – let’s flip the story. What if you’re the one asking, like convincing your kids to rake leaves in the yard or your partner to wash out the dinner pots and pans? What would you say if they asked you to get someone else?
We’re talking about the Good that can happen from maturity in the September series, Welcome To Adulting. An important part of adulting is understanding that there’s a lot on the continuum of life – some things are a peach, others are a pit, but there are many, many good things in the middle.
This is what Soul Bosses are about – integration. Meaningful moments can happen when you’re in the middle of yoga class or out in nature. But they don’t have to wait until after hours – they can also happen when you strike up an elevator conversation with a stranger or laugh at yourself. The key is to stitch all those times together.
Caleb Smith thought he’d help out when his parents purchased an older home six years ago. It was hard to call it “remodeled”; it was more like remuddled. He recalled, “With an older house, you can see the effect of previous owners making little mistakes along the way.”
“Little mistakes” was putting it mildly. Caleb and his stepfather spent hours making things right. They’ve fixed sagging floor joists, converted a decaying outbuilding to a one-room guest cabin, and cleaned up all the problems in between.
Caleb took the first step toward turning all that effort into a career when he applied for the “Work Ethic” scholarship from the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. Caleb says, “I am accustomed to hard work, and when I looked at the [SWEAT] pledge, I saw all the things I valued and that were important in life, but I had never known how to word them.”
What made the Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo pledge so natural for Caleb? The fact it included things he already did like, “I believe any job can be done with passion and enthusiasm” and “I believe I am the product of my choices – not my circumstances.”
That kind of starting place is an important difference between adults and kids. Children only see the task at hand, and well, sometimes that task isn’t so fun. Grown-ups see the big picture as well as the little stuff. They understand that big changes, like a remodeled house, are actually the result of thousands of small, smart decisions. That kind of vision is exactly what a potential business owner like a general contractor needs.
This week, challenge yourself to embrace the SWEAT pledge with an outlook like Caleb. Where you start could make all the difference in where you land. And don’t forget pledge #7 – “cheerfully volunteer for every crappy task there is.” That’s advanced adulting!