Tag Archives: When you work you are like a flute

Professing Your Professional DECREE 24/7

Leave a reply

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s and idea to help you reinforce your conviction. Reading time: 3:03

It’s been another gruelling and challenging day. You’re exhausted. As you’re heading back to the airport, you see an “Off-Duty” light beaming atop a taxi cab. You fantasize: “Oh if only I could install one of those off-duty lights in my office.” Absurd? Of course. Leaders are always on duty, 24/7.

off duty As PROFESSionals, leaders consistently profess their personal conviction that they are doing what they were meant to do, 24/7. They don’t have to wait for Pay Day. Every day is Pay Day.

And every day, PROFESSionals unleash the music inside them on the job as poet Kahlil Gibran notes in his book The Prophet:

“When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.”

No wonder Archimedes made music in the bathtub, proving a famous mathematical concept. O.Henry made music while in a bar in New York City, writing Gift the Magi. Adam Smith made music at the British Coffee House in London, writing The Wealth of Nations. Thomas Edison made music in the baggage car on a railroad train, conducting experiments And in 1908, Jack Norworth made music on a train, writing Take Me Out to the Ball Game— still the most popular song sung at baseball parks.

Continue reading →

Productivity: Working on Purpose

2 Replies

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to more fully recognize the dignity in routine work.

It was 11:30 pm. Only one tired and very frustrated office worker remained in the building: Me.

I was bored with my routine, unfulfilling, long day at work. I heard the janitor cheerfully humming and whistling while he dumped waste paper baskets in an adjacent conference room. He wasn’t listening to any music. No iPod. No Mp3 player. His happy tune, beaming straight from his heart and soul, irked me even more until I couldn’t stand it any more and I unleashed my frustration on Frank, the janitor.

“Frank, how can you be so happy doing a routine job like that? Don’t you ever get frustrated? Don’t you ever just hate your job like I hate my job tonight?”

The janitor looked deep into the tired eyes of the office worker and responded: “Nope. Can’t. I have too important a job to get frustrated by it.”

My face flared. I could feel myself getting even more hot under the collar. ”Dumping waste baskets is too important a job? You’re kidding, right?”I challenged, Frank. The happy, humming janitor, politely responded:

“I do have an important job. It’s so important that if I don’t do my job tonight, you can’t do your job tomorrow.”

Frank- the-janitor had discovered a purpose to his work, a purpose that Continue reading →