How To Take Pride In Your Work
Welcome back to another inspiring episode of “Diary of a Worthy Pursuit.” In today’s episode, we delve into the topic of how to take pride in your work. Join us as we explore the importance of problem-solving, intentional time management, and the impact of positive mindset on achieving desired goals in life and business. Our guests, Speaker A and Speaker B, share their insights on creating a customer-focused approach, navigating toxic positivity, and the significance of attention to detail. Get ready to be motivated and empowered as we embark on this worthy pursuit together. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and let’s dive into this captivating discussion!
Podcast Transcription:
Speaker A [00:00:06]:
So the funny thing is I was working at my minimum wage job in a movie theater way, way, way back in the day, and there was 2 people that I worked with. One is what I would consider to be a derelict of society, and the other one was the most chipper person that I’ve ever met. Interesting thing that the chipper guy would do is he would grab a soda once, soda glass, I should say, when someone would grab a drink, and he would do this little flip thing. And then he would slam it in to get the soda and all that kind of stuff, and he would chat the people up that he was talking to, the customers that he was serving at the time. What he understood was that we were in the business of show business. Besides the movie, these people were here to have a good time, and he was having fun with it. The other person, the one that wasn’t so great, was essentially having this, oh, feeling almost, well, I wanna dare say all the time that I talked to him when he was serving customers, even when he was not serving customers, even when he was done with work. So what’s interesting it’s to see where these people went decades after I knew them, and you can probably figure out who went farther.
Speaker A [00:01:11]:
So today, we’re gonna talk about how to take pride in your work.
Speaker B [00:01:15]:
Welcome to diary of a worthy pursuit.
Speaker A [00:01:17]:
How to get what you truly want in life and business.
Speaker B [00:01:20]:
And I think that’s so interesting that you Bought it in a movie theater of all places. Yeah. Right. I I see this sometimes even in the airport. You know, you see people who really take pride in their job. They smile at everyone. Ask, how are you doing? How’s your day? And there’s people who are just there for the money. They like they’re working for the man.
Speaker A [00:01:38]:
So check-in the box. Right? Hey. Have a job. Hey. Have an apartment. Have a cat.
Speaker B [00:01:42]:
And, I mean, I’ve been there. We’ve all been to that point where you’re just like, oh, just get me Through this day. But, gosh, it is so much more uplifting when you have a purpose Right. In your work.
Speaker A [00:01:52]:
And you feel like you’re contributing.
Speaker B [00:01:55]:
Absolutely.
Speaker A [00:01:55]:
Always tell people that there are contributors and there are drainers, and you wanna be a contributor. And in this case, even if you’re contributing with the job, the guy that was kinda gloomy not kind of. He was just really gloomy. There might have been some chemical imbalance there, self induced. At any rate, when he was gloomy to the customers, you could tell that reflect on the customers. Mhmm. So these people came. They spent way too much money to go to a movie because movies are expensive, whatever.
Speaker A [00:02:20]:
And they just spent $5,000,000 on popcorn or whatever. And this guy’s kinda being, I wanna dare say, a jerk. Yeah. So not pleasant. And so they’re going through, spending a lot of cash, having a good time, the hot date, whatever. And this guy’s feeding this negative energy, which is gonna bleed into them because they’re gonna absorb some of that energy, and then maybe the movie’s not gonna be that good or whatever. Mhmm. And they may have a terrible night.
Speaker A [00:02:45]:
Maybe these people end up getting divorced because this guy wasn’t very nice at the concession stand.
Speaker B [00:02:50]:
Well but what I hear you saying is that sometimes we catch People’s attitude or perspective. Right? I don’t know if you’ve ever been at a, like, at a networking event or you’re just having drinks With friends or maybe you’re around parents at a sporting event, but you end up talking to someone who just doesn’t have anything positive to say Oh, yeah. They’ve just Their life is the worst. There isn’t a positive thing that’s ever happened to them. Ugh. You’re never gonna believe. People that you talk to on phone even. Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:03:20]:
Like,
Speaker B [00:03:20]:
oh, how are you doing today? Well, you’re never gonna believe what’s going on. And then word vomit all the bad things that are happening in their life. And it’s just like, not only do you not wanna be around them, but you just feel like the sense of,
Speaker A [00:03:32]:
ugh. Right.
Speaker B [00:03:33]:
When you’re done, Heaviness. So I love this idea of taking pride in your work, and it’s so much more than your work.
Speaker A [00:03:40]:
Yeah. Yeah. It goes well beyond that. Right. You remind me of somebody saying, when I said, hey. How’s it going? They’re like, it’s going. I’m like, that’s funny. You should just give up right now.
Speaker A [00:03:52]:
Right. Is wrong with you? So it’s just bizarre how people have that, I don’t know, personality or they believe, like, all of the world is on their shoulders, and they can’t do a thing about it.
Speaker B [00:04:03]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker A [00:04:04]:
They don’t understand either the quality or the opportunity that they have for where they are at this moment, which is rough because then it spreads. Right. Good or bad.
Speaker B [00:04:13]:
So when we’re specifically talking to folks who watch a show, like, business
Speaker A [00:04:17]:
owners or folks who have more of an
Speaker B [00:04:17]:
entrepreneurial mindset Mhmm. Mindset. Mhmm. How can this really take a toll on your business?
Speaker A [00:04:23]:
Oh my gosh. 1st, you’ll procrastinate Yeah. Because you’ll avoid doing the stuff. And then when you do do this stuff, you won’t do well at it, and then it’ll snowball to cause either other problems or other people. Employees won’t wanna be around you. Mhmm. Stuff like that. And I have to say, I have to catch myself doing this sometimes too.
Speaker A [00:04:41]:
Because sometimes I don’t know if it’s a human tendency to be negative if it’s something where you have to consciously make an effort to be positive. Well, I think we all have
Speaker B [00:04:50]:
our bad days depending on what happens around us, and we can’t. And toxic positivity is also not helpful.
Speaker A [00:04:55]:
Sure.
Speaker B [00:04:56]:
But that idea that, you know, you can really drag people down. I was part of a workplace once where, we just had this toxic person. Okay. And the workplace was really great. I really enjoyed the work, but there was just this 1 person that whenever you interacted with them, nothing you did was right. You know, everything that, that you put out there needed to be tweaked or this or that, and you felt like they were kind of wasn’t even a supervisor, but was kinda micromanage y and like, Oh, I need this thing done this way or the client wants this done this way. And it’s really hard to work in that environment because not only do you feel like you can’t do anything right. Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:05:31]:
But you’re like, I don’t wanna show up Oh. To this this work environment even if the work, for the most part, is what I love because I can’t stand, again, being around that person, and then that can spread like a cancer.
Speaker A [00:05:43]:
Mhmm. So this is toxic negativity or toxic humanism?
Speaker B [00:05:46]:
Toxic negativity.
Speaker A [00:05:48]:
Okay. I thought you said toxic positive thing.
Speaker B [00:05:50]:
Micromanaging. Nothing I did was right.
Speaker A [00:05:52]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:05:52]:
And it’s really hard then to wanna show up and do your best
Speaker A [00:05:55]:
curveball, the toxic positivity
Speaker B [00:05:56]:
I would know. Right back right back to negativity. Is that
Speaker A [00:05:59]:
Richard Simmons? What would that be? You know, it’s interesting. I guess now that I think about that with toxic positivity Mhmm. Assuming that’s a real thing or could be a real thing. There are people where it seems too artificial.
Speaker B [00:06:12]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:06:12]:
It just seem like you’re you don’t mean that. Mhmm. When you say it’s a great day, Right? And you have Yeah. Arrows hanging out your back or something like that.
Speaker B [00:06:21]:
Well, I think the I tend to think I’m a pretty positive person. I like to have of that about my life, but there are certainly folks who you can tell are putting on a front. Mhmm. Or maybe you just don’t know them well enough to understand That’s just their personality, and so they come off as toxically positive until you understand, like, no. They’re just chipper and teary all the I’m
Speaker A [00:06:42]:
Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Speaker B [00:06:44]:
There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think when you’re not a chipper cheery person, you’re like, oh. Weird. So that way sometimes. Yeah. Well, Get to know me a little better.
Speaker A [00:06:53]:
Yeah. I would say you’re a positive person.
Speaker B [00:06:57]:
But I think that the going back to how this impacts sure work. I would agree that if I don’t if I don’t show up in the morning and be like, I get to do this work. I’m excited about this. Then it really does bleed into not only how I interact with, well, the work I have to do, but also My clients, my vendors, all of that. And then what am I seeding in them? Do they even wanna work with me if I’m not excited to show up to work and really wanna fulfill Well, the reason that I’m here?
Speaker A [00:07:27]:
Right. Yeah. Very true. You wanna work with people that you enjoy being around.
Speaker B [00:07:32]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:07:32]:
And it’s easier to get a favor from someone if you enjoy being around them so if you have to talk to your vendor and say, hey, vendor person, we need the shipment a little bit earlier or I need a deal or something Right. Where you need a favor, if you’re a negative person, they’re gonna say, you know what? Nah.
Speaker B [00:07:49]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:07:50]:
But if you’re a positive person, they’re like, you know what? You make my day every day I talk to you, so, therefore, let me bend a little bit for you.
Speaker B [00:07:57]:
So how, if you are not really one of those upbeat perky people all the time. Mhmm. How do you start a day in a way that you can take pride in your work?
Speaker A [00:08:06]:
I was there’s a couple different ways that I do it, and I use external sources. Okay. So for example, I have to do billing once a month. Mhmm. And billing to me, even though you’re getting paid, that’s good. Right. But it’s paperwork. Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:08:19]:
And I don’t know many people that are like, yeah. Paperwork.
Speaker B [00:08:22]:
No. Never for me.
Speaker A [00:08:24]:
So I have music, a specific, it’s actually a concert. It’s a Jamira Kwai concert Oh, cool. That I listened to from YouTube Yeah. Specifically for billing.
Speaker B [00:08:33]:
Okay.
Speaker A [00:08:34]:
And I know that that concert, I don’t know, it’s 2 and a half hours, something like that. So I know that I have 2 and a half hours to bang through that. Oh, no. Make it to the end of that concert, then it’s a bad day as you gotta start anyways, I know that it helps me get in the zone
Speaker B [00:08:47]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:08:48]:
Because you set it up consciously and then subconsciously, you have done it enough times now then I know when that concert is playing, it’s focus, knock this billing out kind of thing.
Speaker B [00:08:57]:
Yes. You’re creating the right environment for you to be in the right Brain frame to do the work. Yeah.
Speaker A [00:09:03]:
Because if it was quiet, then you’re like, and then you get sidetracked or a fire goes out or let me just check my email quick, which turns into 3 hours.
Speaker B [00:09:10]:
Or the little ding over here.
Speaker A [00:09:12]:
Or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta shut all that off. Mhmm. Turn the music on and just focus. Yeah. And it’s interesting when you focus on 1 task, regardless of what that task is, you know, whether it’s cooking or even sometimes playing with your kids.
Speaker B [00:09:24]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:09:25]:
So I I find myself having a hard time. I got sun. Right? And he’ll ask to play ball, and I say yes every single time. In the back of my head, initially, I’m like, if he was playing with 1 of his buddies, I could go knock out this work thing. Yeah. But but then you think, well, what is the point of you working? Mhmm. Isn’t that the getting time to play with your kid?
Speaker B [00:09:45]:
Right. So
Speaker A [00:09:45]:
you gotta go play with your kid. So then you just gotta leave the phone, play with the kid, have fun. So focus on whatever it is that you’re doing.
Speaker B [00:09:53]:
Yeah. And we’ve talked about that in in other shows, but I think what’s really interesting about that is sometimes taking pride means focusing on the thing that’s right in front of you.
Speaker A [00:10:02]:
Absolutely.
Speaker B [00:10:02]:
You know, like, you’re when you’re in work, focus on work so you can get the work done to do the other things. Thanks.
Speaker A [00:10:07]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:10:07]:
When you’re with your kid, focus on the I have the same same issues. My my kids just had a birthday party last weekend. Nice. And we got this, like You have to push out all the pieces of cardboard, and then you set it up and it becomes like a dino cave with a volcano and all the things, but, you know, it takes some Setup. No batteries required, but you have to set it up. Okay. So I’m sitting down with the kids, and we’re putting this thing together, but I saw it as a task. Right.
Speaker B [00:10:31]:
Okay. Let’s do this task. And then after it was done, cool, mom. Let’s go get the dinos, and let’s play in this. And it was hard for me to go from Task mode of do this thing to just, whoo, now take a deep breath and play. But, you know, then you transition and you realize This is this is what taking pride in parenting means.
Speaker A [00:10:49]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:10:50]:
Show up for 10 minutes.
Speaker A [00:10:51]:
That’s interesting how the goals are different. Right? You want to accomplish this thing, which is putting it together.
Speaker B [00:10:56]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:10:56]:
And they wanted to play, but they knew they had to accomplish the goal your goal first. Can’t just play. Well, that’s funny. But I get it. You find yourself in the zone, and it’s much more enjoyable. Mhmm. Because then you can focus on it, and you do a good job. Yeah.
Speaker A [00:11:10]:
And there’s a pride that’s involved when you actually get it done.
Speaker B [00:11:13]:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker A [00:11:14]:
I mean, I feel like getting it done when you’re playing with your kids. I was like, okay. We can check that box, play with kid. It’s not the same.
Speaker B [00:11:19]:
Exactly.
Speaker A [00:11:19]:
What was work, paperwork Mhmm. Billing or or some of the tax stuff that she has to fill out? Right. Oh my gosh. The No. Go
Speaker B [00:11:30]:
ahead. I think the you know, we’re kind of bringing up some of the themes that we’ve talked about here, but it really comes back to that idea of, like, if you’re gonna Do the work, and you’re going to commit to do the work, then do it with to the best of your ability. Mhmm. And if it’s not something that you feel that you are uniquely designed To do, then maybe it’s something that you outsource so you can do the work that you can take pride in.
Speaker A [00:11:51]:
Right. Delegate, outsource, get somebody else to
Speaker B [00:11:53]:
do it.
Speaker A [00:11:53]:
Hopefully, they take pride.
Speaker B [00:11:55]:
Yeah. Hopefully, they wanna do it if you’re paying them to do it?
Speaker A [00:11:57]:
So another thing that we talk about is having perspective on it. Mhmm. So I find a lot of times people will say my kid, especially, he’ll say, you made me feel this way. You made me mad. You made me sad. It’s really you made me happy. He just is. But it’s one of those, like, I didn’t make you feel anything.
Speaker A [00:12:17]:
You reacted to the facts. This Mhmm. And you consciously, unconsciously chose to feel that way, but I didn’t make you. Yeah. Because if you give me that control, that means that you’ll probably give other people that control. Yeah. Which means that your feelings are at the whim. You’re like a little puppet.
Speaker A [00:12:32]:
Mhmm. You wanna be a little puppet. Right. You could be your own puppet master kind of thing. So it’s interesting how a little bit of change in perspective when you’re doing a thing. Mhmm. Right? Raking leaves or I’m trying to think what I really dishes.
Speaker B [00:12:47]:
Okay. Same. I hate dishes.
Speaker A [00:12:49]:
Yeah. I have no my job in our family is clean up the kitchen after dinner.
Speaker B [00:12:54]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:12:55]:
So I tell my kid, like, it’s time to jam. So I get a little Bluetooth speaker out. We play some tunes, and I don’t know what he does, but I clean. Yeah.
Speaker B [00:13:05]:
But, again, that’s good perspective. And you’re putting your you’re putting your mind at the task at hand, but you’re making it fun. Yeah. There’s, My sister, when she was starting to do more running on a regular basis, and now we both try to run distances, her more than I, but she used to say that I can’t watch Netflix unless I’m on the on the treadmill. Oh. Because she wanted to do the treadmill. She knew it was gonna take her where she wanted to go, but it was that I only get to do this thing While I’m doing the thing that I’m trying to use to to better myself. Alright.
Speaker B [00:13:35]:
But I love that idea of, like, I’m gonna use a dance party and fun music while I’m cleaning up the kitchen to take my mind off the fact that I maybe don’t like to clean up the kitchen.
Speaker A [00:13:44]:
Right. Yeah. If I had to do it without music or something like that we’re not introducing different eighties music to my kid.
Speaker B [00:13:51]:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A [00:13:51]:
Then it’s like, but I’m like, Max, you gotta check out this song. Uh-huh.
Speaker B [00:13:56]:
Oh, I love that. So All the YouTube.
Speaker A [00:13:58]:
Right? Yeah. It’s kinda fun.
Speaker B [00:14:00]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I think the, We come back to this a lot, but the idea of I get to versus I have to Oh, yeah. Huge. Is huge. So there are moments where I’m like, I have to take out the trash today because it’s trash But then it’s like, you know what? I actually have working legs that will allow me to walk out there, and I get that not everyone has That Mhmm. Ability. So I think that sometimes it is let’s just find the silver lining in this thing and take a little pride in the fact that It also means I’m a homeowner and, like, what that allows us to do for our family because while there’s a lot of things that go into being a homeowner, you also get to be a homeowner and have That.
Speaker A [00:14:37]:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Think of all the, just the stuff. Right? I was telling my kid that there’s some people that at the time had to wait in line for Brad. Yeah. Right? And they couldn’t just go to the grocery store and just buy food, move on with their life. Mhmm. Like, I can remember as a kid, we were dirt poor.
Speaker A [00:14:54]:
And I remember waiting in line at, oh my god, the armory where we would get cheese and rice. Mhmm. And and I went with my mom one time. And I remember I don’t know how long we were in line there. It seems like days, but it’s probably hour and a half, something like that. Sure. It was really hot summer day. Like, it seems like it would be easier just to go find a cow and make my own cheese than to wait in line here.
Speaker B [00:15:19]:
Yeah. But you bring up a good point in that perspective is really hard to teach to kids, and you almost need that maturity and experience to Understand that perspective is a privilege, that you have the ability to choose your perspective.
Speaker A [00:15:32]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:15:32]:
And, again, that’s it. So whether you’re working a full time job or you have started a business, like, it’s a privilege to have the ability to even start a business.
Speaker A [00:15:42]:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B [00:15:42]:
Absolutely. You know, depending on how you’re looking at it, it’s a you know, you get to Run a business that you enjoy rather than going to work for the man or whatever it is. So I think that idea of taking pride in it is really cool because it’s like, Well, I made the decision to do this thing, so now let me do it with everything I’ve got.
Speaker A [00:16:04]:
Right. Fair. Yeah, give it full. Yeah. Yeah. Can we say half probably can’t hear? I don’t know. But, yeah, I find some of my employees are not pushing as hard as I know that they can.
Speaker B [00:16:15]:
Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:16:16]:
And I constantly am telling them, do your best, and you have to understand that your best is actually better than what you believe it is.
Speaker B [00:16:22]:
Yeah. So it’s that ownership mentality. Mhmm. It’s that idea of even if you don’t own the business, it’s how do you train people to feel like It’s entrepreneur versus intrapreneur. It’s that idea of how can you have that ability to lead and really push to the next level even if you’re working within a company versus if you are the owner of the business. And I think that that is something ownership is one of my biggest values. I believe that you have to take ownership for What you’re doing or what you’re not doing and at least realize that not taking action is a choice.
Speaker A [00:16:53]:
Mhmm. Oh, huge.
Speaker B [00:16:54]:
So when people don’t show up as the best version of themselves, I’m not Pretending that you don’t have a life outside of showing up at work, that’s fine. We all have our off days. But if you show up like that on a regular basis, you know, what does that say about the way you show up in of your life.
Speaker A [00:17:08]:
Correct. Yeah. It spreads. It’s not just Yeah. In these things, I’m gonna do my best. And in these things, I’m gonna go,
Speaker B [00:17:15]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:17:15]:
Whatever. Like, you don’t get to choose that. I don’t Sooner or later, the is gonna bleed over.
Speaker B [00:17:19]:
I don’t know who said it, and I wish I could remember names better than this, but like how you do the small things is how you do everything.
Speaker A [00:17:26]:
Oh. You know? So, like,
Speaker B [00:17:27]:
you’re cleaning the kitchen, and you’re like, I’m just gonna wipe everything down and quick be done. Like, well, then what else are you you know, halfway because you just quick wanna get it over with.
Speaker A [00:17:37]:
Interesting. I like that.
Speaker B [00:17:39]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:17:39]:
Yeah. The small things. Mhmm. The little that’s clever.
Speaker B [00:17:42]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:17:43]:
Very cool. What else do we have here? The other thing oh, this reminds me of I know we’ve talked talked about quick trip before with the people there and the customer service training that they get versus the local gas station. Yeah. And it’s interesting to me how to watch just the volume of people that they have coming and going through there, which I am convinced is at least in great part due to customer service Yeah. Being way better than typical gas station, way better. Mhmm. Because you almost look forward to going to getting your stuff instead of feeling like, ugh. I gotta go inside.
Speaker A [00:18:16]:
This is dingy beat up gas station with the cranky people and wait for the people with their lottery tickets and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker B [00:18:22]:
I was just in QuikTrip the other day. I went to pick up donuts our networking event. And as I walked in, the woman who was cleaning the window opened the door for me, and she said, good morning. How are you today? Anyway, now, You know, she’s probably making minimum wage or maybe a little bit more than that because the it’s a competitive market these days, but she didn’t have to do that. No. And look how she touched my day, and she took that pride in her work. And now I’m probably more likely to go to Kwik Trip again because She greeted me with that positivity and that pride.
Speaker A [00:18:49]:
You feel better too. Right? Did. You got welcomed. Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:18:52]:
Instead of getting this can go miles.
Speaker A [00:18:54]:
Weird stare, like, oh, customers.
Speaker B [00:18:56]:
I also love how they’re always like, see you next time. Yeah. There’s that positivity and just that, like Mhmm. That assumptive close. We’ll see you next time. Every once in a while
Speaker A [00:19:05]:
every once in a while, I’ll run into someone there that does not do that. Yeah. There’s a particular one that’s pretty close to my shop that I go to pretty routinely. And I just realized 2 days ago, I was going to get bananas.
Speaker B [00:19:18]:
K.
Speaker A [00:19:18]:
And there’s 2 people checking out. Right? Mhmm. Weirdo depressed guy and then other person I’ve never seen before. And I actually moved in line so that I wouldn’t have to deal with weirdo depressed
Speaker B [00:19:29]:
guy. Yeah.
Speaker A [00:19:31]:
I’m like, it would have been faster to deal with weird, oppressed guy, but I don’t even wanna talk to him. Mhmm. He was that just just this dark, evil maybe not evil. I don’t know.
Speaker B [00:19:41]:
Yeah. Right.
Speaker A [00:19:42]:
She wasn’t having a good day. He never seems to be having a good day.
Speaker B [00:19:44]:
Well, they do believe that it’s important to protect your energy because other people do rub off on you. So if you have the choice between a positive experience and one that you can see would be negative, why wouldn’t you choose the positive one? Right. But then if you’re on the flip side of that, then how can you provide that for someone else and put that out into the world? I think that that’s extremely helpful.
Speaker A [00:20:00]:
Yeah. You just people are attracted to that. Yeah. And it’s more fun.
Speaker B [00:20:06]:
Well, let’s talk about that for people being more attracted to it. Because if you’re a business owner, you wanna start a business, you Can’t go out and pull everyone into your business if you are mister or missus negativity.
Speaker A [00:20:17]:
Right.
Speaker B [00:20:17]:
Right? So people are attracted to do business with the people they know, like, and trust, they’re more likely to like and trust you if you’re taking pride in your work and you’re doing those extra little things and going the extra mile, then they are like, yeah. Got your taxes done. Oh, you, you know, you paid 50% of what I’m telling you gotta pay this year? Sorry. Did your taxes. I know what I’m doing.
Speaker A [00:20:39]:
Right. That’d be
Speaker B [00:20:39]:
an awful Experience. Mhmm.
Speaker A [00:20:41]:
Terrible. No customer service. No. One thing I like with people is that they or, I guess, nice people is that they’ll give you information in detail to help you, and I find negative people, people that aren’t so positive will be very vague. Mhmm. Going back the how’s it going? It’s going. Yeah. Instead of saying, like, you know what? Today is a good day.
Speaker A [00:21:02]:
X, y, and z happened. Mhmm. Even though they may have tons of baggage, because everybody’s got baggage of some kind Right. Some negative stuff going on. But it’s interesting how the more positive people I think will go into detail because they’re concentrating on the negative things. Or I’m sorry. Concentrating on the positive things.
Speaker B [00:21:18]:
Yeah. Well, their I think their perspective is focused on the customer or the person in front of them and less on themselves. Right? So it’s this, there’s something bigger than me. Mhmm. Right? And I think when you’re when When you approach the world in an area like, in a service oriented way rather than, well, what’s coming to me? What do I deserve? That’s not fair. It is a very different outlook on
Speaker A [00:21:41]:
life, and
Speaker B [00:21:41]:
you’re you’re attracting more to yourself. It’s this whole idea of the law of attraction and abundance. Mhmm. But going back to your point, one of my favorite examples, I attended this Sales workshop is a part of a retreat, and this woman had trained for La Z Boy for years. And I remember
Speaker A [00:21:54]:
La Z Boy the chair company?
Speaker B [00:21:55]:
The, yeah, the The furniture company. There. Okay. Yeah. And one of the things that she said was, when you go into a furniture store, what do you think? You feel like people are gonna follow you around Right. And they’re not gonna be helpful because they just want Your order. But she’s like, the way that you do it differently, for example, for mattresses, La Z Boy has a mattress section. So if people walk in and you don’t talk to them, then you’re like, yeah.
Speaker B [00:22:18]:
You know, whatever. I’ll sell you the mattress when you have made your choice and whatever. But the people who take pride in their work the ones who are asking questions. Like, so what is it about your current mattress that you don’t like?
Speaker A [00:22:28]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:22:28]:
Trying to dive in. Like, do you sleep on your side or your back? What happens on the night so you get the best sleep? And they’re really diving into what is it like for you? How can I help you solve this problem? And I think that’s taking pride in their work because they’re focused on the external. They’re focused on someone outside of themselves, and people feel that. They feel like, Oh, you don’t just want the sale. You wanna help me.
Speaker A [00:22:51]:
Right. And you get them you solve a problem for them Yeah. Versus getting the sale thing. So I tell that to my crew all the time when when we have a potential client, give us a call. Yeah. So your job is to just find their pain and make sure that we can fix their pain. Mhmm. And if we can’t, great.
Speaker A [00:23:07]:
Yeah. But if we can’t, there’s plenty of other customers Right. Who’ll move along.
Speaker B [00:23:12]:
Well, and at the end of the day, I think as business owners, we’re all problem solvers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t into this in the 1st place.
Speaker A [00:23:17]:
Game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s totally the game.
Speaker B [00:23:19]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:23:20]:
And it’s enjoyable. I tell my crew constantly, problems are a sign of life.
Speaker B [00:23:25]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:23:26]:
So if ever there’s a time in your life when you don’t have any problems, like 0 problems, something’s Off. Gonna happen. Right. Or you’re not aware.
Speaker B [00:23:34]:
Exactly.
Speaker A [00:23:35]:
You know, I’m paying attention.
Speaker B [00:23:36]:
Exactly. But I think what we’re kinda circling around here is this last point that we wanted to bring up is that idea that you do inspire others
Speaker A [00:23:43]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:23:43]:
To have a better outcome, but you also just inspire others to have a better day when you take pride in what you’re doing, when you show up as your best full self serving other people and not being so centered on your own all your your own stuff.
Speaker A [00:23:56]:
I feel like, universally, our job is to make the world a better place.
Speaker B [00:23:59]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:24:00]:
Because there’s a lot people that may not be Mhmm. Intent on that, but have everyone that we help makes the world a better place. And, universally, after we’re gone and the world continues on. It should be better for every subsequent generation after that. Yeah. And I think of all the generations before us, even going back 200 years something like that. Right. Think of what the day to day for those people were.
Speaker B [00:24:23]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:24:24]:
And then go, you know, like, every 10 years, see what it was like, what it was like, what it was like. Mhmm. We got a pretty sweet life. Yeah. Pretty sweet
Speaker B [00:24:31]:
to hear. We don’t have it too bad.
Speaker A [00:24:34]:
No. No. It’s surreal.
Speaker B [00:24:35]:
It is really surreal. The idea of, I think, Taking pride and changing your perspective, I think, really starts in the morning because it I think it’s really hard to shift yourself. And we can certainly talk about this, but I think it’s really hard to shift yourself after you’ve had a good couple hours of, like, negativity, woe is me.
Speaker A [00:24:55]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:24:55]:
But if You can start your day in such a way that you’re like, this is gonna be a great day. I’m gonna set up to serve more than me. I’m going to serve others, and then that in is gonna come back to me. I think that that’s the way to really set a foundation for taking pride in your work every day.
Speaker A [00:25:11]:
Yeah. I think that comes back to asking yourself a question about what is gonna be great to today or about today? How can I make today great? Yeah. Who am I gonna help today?
Speaker B [00:25:21]:
Oh, I love that.
Speaker A [00:25:22]:
At the end of the day, what do I wanna say happened Mhmm. Kind of thing where you’re asking yourself questions where the answers are gonna lead you towards a positive outcome.
Speaker B [00:25:29]:
Yeah. I just started doing this. It’s I’ve probably talked about it, but it’s a Six phase meditation by this guy who started Mindvalley. And one of the things that he has you do is visualize your day. So you start with, like, Thinking about how you serve others, and then you think about things that you’re grateful for and your goals, and then you visualize your day in your brain before it happens.
Speaker A [00:25:50]:
Let’s Oh, interesting.
Speaker B [00:25:51]:
Think when you visualize your day and your brain before it happens, then it’s easier when you come to a fork in your road of in your day of, like, something just happened. How am I gonna respond? Mhmm. It’s easier to take the high road and the positive road because you already know how you want it to go.
Speaker A [00:26:05]:
Interesting.
Speaker B [00:26:06]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:26:06]:
I suppose that also helps determine if what you’re expecting for the day, if you’re visualizing it, if you realize, wait, that can’t happen, or I’m expecting way too much of my day or Yeah. Oh, I never thought about this. That’s giving yourself a chance to
Speaker B [00:26:21]:
Keep yourself realistic.
Speaker A [00:26:22]:
Well, yeah, I guess think about realistic because everyone wants to be like, here’s my to do list. It’s 5,000,000 things.
Speaker B [00:26:28]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:26:29]:
But if you think about through your day, okay, that’s gonna take 5 minutes, that’s gonna take 5 hours kind of thing. You’re like, okay. This is what’s realistic, and this is what’s going to happen. I can commit to that. And I can enjoy it. Mhmm. Because I know that the end outcome is what my big goal is.
Speaker B [00:26:44]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:26:44]:
You can take pride in your work because you’re successful in doing it.
Speaker B [00:26:47]:
Yeah. And I think when you feel accomplished, it is so much easier to take pride in your work than when you just feel like a cog in a wheel or
Speaker A [00:26:54]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:26:55]:
You know, a hamster running, Doing 50 things, but never getting anything really done.
Speaker A [00:27:00]:
Yeah.
Speaker B [00:27:00]:
So I think that that’s a good point too is just being intentional about you know, we talk about this a lot How you spend your time
Speaker A [00:27:06]:
Mhmm.
Speaker B [00:27:06]:
Really does determine how you feel at the end of the day. Absolutely.
Speaker A [00:27:10]:
Yeah. Activity versus accomplishment.
Speaker B [00:27:12]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:27:12]:
I have a lot I wanna see a lot. Many employees that have been very busy. I even had a conversation with an employee yesterday. We had 4 people on, 3 people were on phones. A 4th call came in, and this person didn’t answer the phone. I looked at the the report, whatever, and she wasn’t on the phone for 15 minutes before or 10 minutes after.
Speaker B [00:27:33]:
Okay.
Speaker A [00:27:33]:
So I said, hey. And, unfortunately, it was a client. 1 one of our clients called. So we didn’t answer the phone for one of the most important people. Right? The people that help us pay our bills kind of thing. And I said, hey. Tell me why you didn’t get that call. And she’s like, well, I was busy doing something else.
Speaker A [00:27:49]:
Like, we’re a phone answering service. So when it rings, guess what we have to do? We’re not in I was too busy service. Right? Because that’s what other people have. That’s why they hire us.
Speaker B [00:28:00]:
Right.
Speaker A [00:28:01]:
So it’s interesting how she was like, I was so busy with this other thing. And what’s more interesting to me is she was she did not say I was busy doing this. She just said I was busy. I was busy. Right? Yeah. Didn’t say I was busy, whatever. I don’t know. Lifting a bus off a kid or something like that.
Speaker A [00:28:20]:
Something we’re just like, oh, okay. Well, that makes sense. Totally justified.
Speaker B [00:28:23]:
I mean, she probably couldn’t tell you if she was Superwoman anyway, so that would be Maybe.
Speaker A [00:28:26]:
Maybe. Yeah. But it was one of those things where you just say you’re busy. Like like, I’m supposed to say, oh, I totally get it.
Speaker B [00:28:32]:
Like No. Like, there might have been some judgment if you would have questioned her priority, so she didn’t the priority.
Speaker A [00:28:38]:
Whatever it was.
Speaker B [00:28:39]:
Yeah.
Speaker A [00:28:39]:
Whatever it was.
Speaker B [00:28:40]:
What is interesting, I think, in that is the idea that our we need to align how we spend our time with our priorities and our choices. And I think that sometimes we get so bogged down in it that it’s really hard to align those things. So when you are intentional with how you spend your time, then it’s easier to take Pride in your work and spend your time on what’s really important.
Speaker A [00:28:58]:
Yeah. And accomplish what’s what’s you
Speaker B [00:29:00]:
want to make. What we want as business owners. Right?
Speaker A [00:29:03]:
Amen to that.
Speaker B [00:29:04]:
Well, this has been Diary of a Worthy Pursuit.
Speaker A [00:29:06]:
How to get what you truly want in life and business.