Curious case of the skipping waiter

an amicable solution that would catapult the organisation to a global level.
Better Internet presence, cooler stories, snapshots of personalities, a conversation on J Leno, having tea with the Chinese, we went through it all and I was rigid, intense, trying so hard to add value and hoping that when I did it would be given a medal.
We all want medals. I noticed my own shirt. It looked professional so I could act professional. I think the people I was consulting for really liked me. At least I hoped they did.
Then after hearing the two of them discussing an idea I presented about “simple internal systems” I lost track of everything.
I consciously fell asleep and drifted into my coffee cup and took a big sip. I looked up all of a sudden and saw a waiter coming to work.
He was skipping in to work. SKIPPING! Excited to serve people croissants and coffee.
His face had a slapped-on smile that would not go away. He probably rode to work on a bicycle.
Then the clock struck 11am. I had never skipped to my office. I did not smile when I greeted my secretary.
I did not care about serving coffee. My accountants had thrown me into the pit of the “bottom line”.
It was all I could see and pretty much all I could think of. Why did I not SKIP to work.
I mean after all despite the sheer extra physical exertion involved and the fact that skipping has the potential to look undignified there was something about this guy that excited him about his work. He just looked like he wanted to be there.
In that moment I experienced a paradigm shift that would alter the way I viewed work forever.
There was more to life than the “bottom line”, more than the organisational politicking that was going on between my clients.
There was an attitude I could adapt to enjoying my job so much, with a sense of purpose, that it became infectious in the people around me.
The money would remain important, but far more important was the value I added by addressing what I did with passion, zeal and excellence.
The zeal birthed by the realisation that I was making a difference in the lives of people around me and not just being a perpetual minion under the subjugation of “the system”.
If you cannot find a passion for what you do perhaps you are in the wrong place.
Not necessarily physically but in the wrong place with regards to your attitude.
If there is no vision for change coming down from the top of your organisation, well perhaps you better kick-start it in your own life?
Find a better reason for life than the paycheque at the end of the month. Create a bigger picture for your life and lift up you head from the humdrum of daily routine long enough to stare at it full in the face.
Let your attitude be one of giving value. Giving a smile that costs you no more than allowing a few muscles to work.
Incidentally the act of smiling has been scientifically validated to improve your happiness.
Go on try it. Smile for 30 seconds. See the emotional change in you? You serve people because you are making their life better, not because you are trying to fill some impossible quota set by the accounts department.
You work because you are making a difference in the universe, making it a better place for the rest of us to enjoy with you. That is the sort of attitude that will get you skipping to work.
“Snap”. My clients asked me a question. I smiled and said “Tell me again so I can answer correctly”.
I kept on smiling. And then answered. They were happy and said I was an amazing contribution to their company.
I walked away got in my car and said to myself, “No longer will I walk to work, I will skip, I will smile and I will serve my employees and my clients like that waiter served coffee. Eagerly and excitedly”.
That was a while ago and it has changed my life. Be in love with what you do.
If you are not — go to a coffee shop and find a waiter who just loves to serve you. Watch, learn, catch their zeal, and change.