"It's always interesting to see what you look like from someone else's eyes."
One of the ongoing projects we have going at work is a 2,000 sq ft building expansion. Part of that expansion involved having an electrician come put in lights, fans, outlets, etc. in the new building. So the electrician and his crew spent a couple of days with us this week. Late in the second day, the guy makes the following observation to my bro:
"Let me ask you a question if you don't mind. I've been here for two days now, and I see you watch a lot of YouTube videos. That guy (across from by bro who does shipping/receiving/inventory) watches a ton of basketball highlights. The girl up front spends quite a bit of time on facebook and playing Sudoku I walked by that guy's office up front (referring to yours truly) and he was sound asleep.
"How the hell do you guys make any money? Nobody seems to do anything."
Well, my bro shrugs and laughs it off, then later we talked about it (after work over a vodka martini).
I had to get over the implied insult, that we're a bunch of lazy folks that goof off all day and do just enough work to justify our existence, and my response, "who the hell is this guy to come in and criticize our company? After all, we're making enough money to pay his sorry ass."
But then I realized his observation was a badly worded compliment, not an insult. He gets up early every day and goes to work in the heat or cold, works his ass off until dark, then does paperwork. And he does this six days a week. I think he really wanted to know how we manage to work about a third has hard as he works, and still seem to be doing OK. I think maybe he'd like to do that too.
And, I admit it, I am prone to an after lunch power nap now and then - well mostly every day. We even bought a massage chair for the office, and suggested everyone take advantage of it for 20 minutes a few times a week.
Then I remembered the years that I spent driving all night, working all day, driving all night to get to the place where I had to work all day the next day. I did that a very much lot back in the day. Meanwhile, during the times I was gone my staff would fight with each other like a bunch of four year olds at McDonald's. I knew my clients were caught in the crossfire, and there wasn't anything I could do about it.
And there are times when we work hard too. Next week is going to be crazy, and this whole year has definitely been a lot busier than a couple of years ago. In 2009 it seems like we sat around listening to the crickets chirp for weeks at a time. We definitely weren't building new buildings or buying new servers or hiring fat electricians.
Anyway, the whole event became just another angle - a new dimension - of what a good thing we have going. We really are getting a lot done. Momentum is rising, and we're busy. And what a great thing it is that we have the time and luxury to actually enjoy the ride.
I therefore offer my sincere thanks to that electrician for pointing it out to all of us.