Sunday, November 19, 2006

Thomas' Tip of theDay

Well, last week I had the pleasure of working with the infamous Mr. Thomas, and as usual I walked away with a golden nugget of advice. He told me that someone once told him, "that at the end of the day, all this is, is a bunch of guys playing factory. "

That is a true statement. Part of what holds people in their current surroundings is the fact that they get caught up in all of the hype. They build their jobs into something that absorbs all of their time and energy. It becomes this enigma that awes your family and friends. At my job people walk around like they are ER Doctors! Their families think they are out saving the world. We make auto parts for crying out loud. People are wheeling in bags with binders and laptops, we have teleconferences for silly szhit and enough meetings to think we were designing the next IPOD.

Part of me understands the hype. Who wants to come home at the end of the day and tell their wives that they spent the day filling out paperwork to allow the plant worker to add a piece of felt on a plastic beam; or better yet, "Honey they made me move my cube today". A real man wants to say, "Honey, I rolled out my new Corporate restructuring program and the board loved it. I just got the corner office with the bathroom"

Our job as future millionaires is not to get caught up in our jobs. This doesn't mean not to kill it. You still have to be the best, but don't waste unnecessary time obsessing over it or expelling extra emotional energy. During a recent episode of the Tyra Show (yes, I watch it...I am well rounded...in touch with my inner hoochie) she interviwed Puff Daddy. He explained how he used to clean bathrooms during his unpaid internship. At the end of that statement, he said that he was the best at it. That's the the mindframe that we have to keep. That's the perfect analogy. He knew he was on to bigger and better things but he still had to be the best at what he did. I'm sure at the end of the day, he didn't call himself a Sanitation Engineer, or a commercial disinfectionist. He was a kid cleaning bathroom. His energy was spent on bigger and better things.

This holiday I will go to NJ/ NY for the holidays. People there are killing it. If you think you are busy and stressed, forget it. People in NYC are in the gym at 6:00 AM on treadmills, talking through their bluetooths closing deals before the market opens. That's busy! That's stress! People are earning and gaining personal fortunes while you are still in you PJ's and bunny slippers.

If you are bigger then your job, then act as such. Kill it and get out. Save the energy that you spend worrying about your job or getting frustrated about your co-workers for the bigger things. Bigger things could mean raising your kids, coaching your son’s baseball team, or spending time with your family. Whatever defines you, deserves that energy. For me it's simple; becoming a mogul. If I get caught up in this small nickel and dime hustle, how can I handle a million dollar hustle? The small hustle is exactly what it is, a 32 year old man, sitting in a cube, playing factory. I'm ready for bigger and better things. Drop the unrinal cake in the urinal and go home.

-MJL

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