How many of us know people, who when asked, 'What's new?', respond, 'Same old, same old.
I've always hated this response for one simple reason.
They sound like they expect the world to entertain them and maybe deep down they do. Maybe they're bored when their world doesn't change.
Perhaps, I find that sentiment disgusting, because expecting the world to entertain them sounds like one of the laziest choices you can make in life.
My Dad grew up in a coal town in Ohio. He got a scholarship to Carnegie-Mellon and worked as a dishwasher at his fraternity to help pay for his tuition. He usually was gone for an entire week at a time and sometimes three weeks at a time.
When I got up for school at 6:30, I'd see his car go down the drive way. I wouldn't see him again until 6:30 pm that night.
If you want an exciting life, do something with your life.
By the world's standards, I'm not as successful as my Dad, but in the 24 years I worked for my first employer my salary tripled. It tripled, because I was always looking for areas that needed improvement. Problems that needed to be solved.
When a new ERP system was introduced at my employer and there was no budget for training, I created 500 pages of documentation and that became the basis for a three-day training class.
When I worked with folks who speeded through new product introductions, I examined the underlying revenue for these offers. I found one product that the customer had already paid for, however because it was never set up correctly, the revenue was never recognized. That year, we were able to recognize an extra 7.2 M because of my work.
Another time I examined some of our maintenance offers and found that my employer's lack of processes meant we were missing out on $2 M. I worked with the team to recognize that revenue.
One person I'll never forget is a former coworker. He used to tell people, 'I'm never going to be fired. I'm a minority'. Now don't get me wrong, I know that companies with diverse employees are more successful than companies that don'e believe in diversity. I just knew that type of attitude could lead to problems.
And I found it did. This guy made decisions that resulted in the loss of $5.2 M.
These are things I did on my own, not because I was told, but because I suspected there was a problem, investigated it and ultimately resolved it.
Everybody is motivated by different things, improving things is one of my greatest joys. Said another way, I enjoy solving problems. I enjoy getting down to the nitty gritty to see what caused this issue so I can develop solutions that eliminate that problem.
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
