Grinder

I sat down and had a plate of food at a funeral reception yesterday and began talking with a gentleman and his wife I had never seen nor met before. As we talked, he knows a friend of mine very well (same company), and his wife was a student of a friend of mine. Crazy.

We talked some more and I learned that he is from Northern Minnesota. He moved out to the Seattle area when he was still young and was hired by the Bon Marche (Macy's). He told me that the woman who interviewed him was also from the Midwest and after he was hired she said, "I knew that I was going to hire you the minute you said where you were from. You know how to work!"

As we continued to talk he made a comment that stuck in my mind. He said, "I'm a grinder."
He was referring to his work ethic. Not in a negative way, but in a positive way. He loves to work. He loves to be immersed in work. He is approaching retirement age and really doesn't care to retire.

Grinder.

That is a good thing.

One of the most rewarding things in my life is to do manual labor and then kick back and see how it all turned out. There is an inherent reward for working hard. There are tangible rewards for working hard.

I'm grateful to my parents for raising us four boys to be 'grinders'. They continue to model to me the whole work ethic thing. Suck it up. Work hard. Git'r done. Be prompt. Be prepared. Go the extra mile. Treat people with respect even if they dis you. Be honorable. Do it right. Reach your potential and then keep reaching. Don't just make do with what you have, but make great with what you got!

Grinder.

That's a good thing.


MTC!
Mark