Happy Sunday Everyone:
Our family was down in Palm Springs for Easter Weekend last week. Jack/Thomas/me decided to play golf. Sometimes you overpay for golf, sometimes you feel like you’re getting a great deal, this place was on the great deal side of things.
When we were rounding 9, we had the opportunity to grab a bite. The restaurant area was the opposite direction of hole 10. As we’re pulling up, we’re greeted by the marshal. If you don’t play golf, the marshal is the person making sure everyone is playing at a pace, so things don’t get backed up. They’re usually a little on the stiff side.
This guy was on fire “you guys just getting finished with nine, how was it (huge smile)”, he’s in constant motion, saying hello to everyone around him, like he owned the place. He then looks back at us “guys, do you know where #10 is?, we want to make sure the group behind you doesn’t catch up, I’m happy bring your food out to you, what did you order?”.
I run up to get our food, aka known as 3 hotdogs. While I’m doing that Jack hears another golfer say, “you’re great at your job”. This is the punch line for today: I get back in the cart, Jack telling me about the encounter and what he observed. The marshal’s response to the compliment was “thank you sir, I have the freedom to choose to enjoy my job, and I do”.
“I have the freedom to choose to enjoy my job”. I’ve thought about that statement 100X since hearing it. Freedom to choose to enjoy. Freedom/Choose/Enjoy. If you let that sink in for a bit its bigger than a job, we have free will, to make choices, to enjoy our lives. We also have free will, to make choices, to not enjoy our lives. If I was inside that guy’s mind when he made that statement, my guess is he could have said “i wake up excited for the day, I show up with the mindset that I’m going to bring joy to everyone around me, and in return, I’ll be doing my job well, and I love doing that”.
What’s also interesting is my initial statement today, we felt like we were getting a great deal. It was 50% the quality of the golf course, it was 50% the experience provided by the staff, from check in, cart guys, servers after we were done. It’s all correlated, all those employees were feeding off each other. We all felt it.
For all of us in our various businesses, some have management roles, leadership roles, individual contributor roles. What would happen if you started your day with “I have the freedom to choose to enjoy my job”. “I have the freedom to choose to enjoy talking to this client, I have the freedom to choose to enjoy solving this problem, I have the freedom to choose to enjoy leading this meeting. I have the freedom to choose to enjoy this prospecting hour”. You put that statement in front of enough of your activities and you are simply making the choice to enjoy your life more. Who wouldn’t want that?
Side note-I also love that Jack was observant enough to notice the exchange. I believe that’s the starting point to changing things for the better, being aware!
I hope everyone has a great week ahead!