The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day

Good Morning,

These last few weeks have been some of the most tiring in my life. No one task has been overwhelming in and of itself, rather the day after day, week after week of moving, unpacking, cleaning, fixing, working, living, attending functions, etc., has been a constant companion. I look forward to some downtime in a week or so.

Sunday morning I again worked as a parking lot greeter and walked around saying hello and wishing all the ladies ‘Happy Mother’s Day’. On Saturday, after spending the day standing and walking around at the Kentucky Scottish Weekend, I cleaned the floors in my old house. By the time I came home, I could barely walk. So walking around the parking lot for 45 minutes Sunday morning was painful just to start.

As I walked I looked at my watch and thought of reasons to stop a few minutes earlier, but I was enjoying what I was doing, even though the pain was mounting. Then I remembered the scene from ‘Facing the Giants’ where the coach challenges the team captain, Brock, to give his absolute best in an exercise called the ‘Deathcrawl’. You can see the inspirational scene for yourself here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF9wm-Hbh54).

The words of the coach shot through my mind: “You promised me your best. Your best!” And I kept walking and greeting, with a smile on my face.

Then another thought hit me. Remembering back from Patrick Lencioni’s book “Three Signs of a Miserable Job” was another way to make a task or roll more enjoyable. If I were to start measuring my performance, I would improve my morale as I saw the quantifiable value of what I did. So as a greeter, what would I measure? I could measure the number of people I greet. That statistic, though would not ensure quality work. Being in pain, I wanted to make sure I did a good job greeting those who arrived.

I decided to count smiles and people who waved back to me after I waved to them. Then I knew that I would be doing a good job as well as measuring my performance.

The pain continued, and suddenly I received three smiles and two waves from people coming to Church. Then it was not so bad.

A few moments later I looked at my watch and thought about slowing up, and then heard the coach in my mind yelling ‘Your Best! You promised me your best!’

So I went on and walked all the way up and all the way down the parking lot some more. Fifteen more minutes passed.

My right heel hurt the most, and both of my legs were stiffening up, but I pushed on, two more smiles and another wave, only 13 more minutes to go.

One person did not smile, so I could not count that one. Then one lady gave me a hug. That had to be bonus points!

Pushing on, I so wanted to go back to my car and just SIT. “Your very best, you promised me your very best” rang in my mind and I turned around and walked away from my car, just 10 more minutes.

11 smiles, 8 waves and 1 hug. This was a productive morning, and it set a baseline for my upcoming weeks.

My heel started burning, at 9:10 AM with 5 minutes left to go. The greeters by the door had already left their posts and went to their morning classes. I promised I would work until 9:15 AM and I was going to keep that promise. “Your best! Your very best!”

I kept walking and greeting the handful of people who came in those last few minutes until 9:15 came. Then I walked slowly to my car, collected my things and walked to class. I had fulfilled my promise and started measuring my performance. It was a good start to the day.

Sure this was a simple task, but much of what we do in everyday life is small and simple tasks. The combination of these many small and simple tasks form into the large and complex ball of chaos many of us call our day jobs.

The hard part is to stick with it, to give our best in performing our tasks. Whatever it takes, be it the coach telling you to give your best, or counting smiles, do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Another aspect was the number of ideas and resources which came to mind as I tried to find reasons to keep doing my job. These thoughts included people mentioned in Cythia Kersey’s book ‘Unstoppable’ and people like Earnest Shackleton and Robert E. Lee.

Sure I was simply walking around, but the number of resources and tools which came to mind helped me. Another benefit of being a lifelong learner, tools and knowledge when you need them.

So now off to a hot Jacuzzi bath and a night of rest.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net