The Virtue of Commitment
(Author's note: This article is a continuation of the introductory material published in the October, 2009 issue of our newsletter. If you need a copy, just e-mail us and let us know where to send it.)
How good is good enough? Could life be ready to offer you more - happiness, financial success, relationships - if you were in the right state of commitment to receive it? The following little story illustrates what I mean:
About 30 years ago, my then boss invited an important client and myself to dinner at the Golden Eagle in Phoenix. (The Golden Eagle was very expensive restaurant perched on top of what used to be the Valley National Bank building in downtown Phoenix). The view was phenomenal. And so were the food and service - and prices. At that time, dinner at the Golden Eagle was completely out of my budget, so I looked forward to an experience that would be truly unique for me. What I didn't anticipate was the lesson that awaited me - and even more important, the source from which I would receive it.
Our waiter was extraordinary. We never had to ask for anything. He seemed to have a sixth sense about what was needed and would appear out of nowhere with extra butter, rolls, more drinks, ice, etc. I don’t know what the total bill was for the three of us, but I saw my boss add a $100 tip. That was a lot of money in 1979 - especially for a gratuity. But I realized that I had never experienced service to the degree this waiter provided. And that’s when the lesson began.
As we prepared to leave, the client and my manager took a minute to use the restroom and make phone calls. This left me alone in the restaurant lobby, and while I was waiting, our server approached me. He simply walked up and smiled and asked if everything was alright. I told him dinner was excellent and his service had been outstanding. He thanked me for the compliment and then explained that his shift was over, but he would not leave until all the guests he served had left the building. Since we could both see the men in my party were still on the phone, we struck up a conversation about our respective careers and more specifically, what our supervisors were like, and what was expected of us before we received recognition for our efforts.
I mentioned that most of our new hires had no idea of the amount of time and energy it required to be successful in our business, and because of it, one of my responsibilities was conducting training classes for salespeople in our industry, hoping to improve their productivity and effectiveness. I asked the waiter - he told me his name was Matt - if the restaurant had a similar program. He told me there was a introductory one day training session to acquaint their new hires with policy and procedure, but the program did not contain any material on how to be a better server, or how to provide outstanding customer service. In his opinion, the restaurant’s employees were already operating at exceptional levels before they had been hired, and their presence at the Golden Eagle was simply a confirmation of their on-going ability to consistently meet and exceed the customer's expectations.
He went on to tell me that he started out five years ago waiting tables in Denny's. As he increased his rapport skills and dedication to the job, he quickly saw the difference between his income and that of the other employees. Customers often asked for his station. They enjoyed his level of service and remembered him for it. From Denny's he moved up the ladder to work at more expensive restaurants, realizing that his income would also increase where customers would typically spend more money.
He had simply decided to be the best at what he was doing. When he went to work, he concentrated on work. While other employees chatted with each other about their weekend plans or daydreamed about what they would rather be doing, Matt was busy checking on his tables, bringing out samples of food for customers to try, re-filling drinks and always making sure he offered eye contact with every customer as he moved from station to station.
The point? He had committed to being the best server he could be. He didn't think of his job as "temporary until he could find something better," or in any way beneath his social station in life. He understood the value of doing something to such a degree of perfection, that others would recognize his efforts and be willing to compensate him accordingly.
How much is accordingly? He told me his income from tips was just over $100,000 a year. At that time, I was working for a Fortune 200 corporation, and had recently received recognition for being one of the top ten most productive sales people in the company - and I made about $50,000 a year. This restaurant waiter was making twice my salary. Because of his commitment.
The main reason people fail in some aspect of their life is due to a lack of commitment to making that part of their life work. They simply "go along for the ride," doing the minimum necessary to make their lives bearable.
If you can't fully commit to do your absolute best, you'll never realize the maximum rewards from what you're doing - regardless of whether it's your choice of career, spouse, religion, relationships...you name it. There isn't any part of your life that can't be improved by deciding to fully commit your time, energy and attitude to making it better.
Final thoughts: Life is pretty much a neutral experience - you get out of it what you put in. And if you're not getting what you want, not receiving what makes you happy, content, and satisfied, it's time to fix it, change it, and make it into something you can commit to. And obviously, if you get the premise of this article, you know what I'm really saying is: You need to fix you, change you, make you into the kind of person that does whatever is necessary to make your life a committed experience with everything and everyone in it. Get the idea?
Posted at 02:05PM Oct 01, 2009 by Jill Reid in General |
