Life Lessons From A Mall Kiosk
My brother Brian and I wandered through the mall recently. Traffic in the mall was very light. As we headed toward the coffee shop, we passed by a few retail kiosks – the companies that sell retail products from a hallway stand and not an actual store location.
As we passed by the first of two kiosks, we noticed the young man furiously punching numbers into a handheld calculator. Nothing else was on the tabletop: no papers, no spreadsheets, and no money, just a calculator. It looked as though he was doing what he could to break the monotony. Number after number was punched into the calculator as though he were trying to solve the conundrum of the Earth’s core temperature in relation to the frigid temperatures of space. I’m not sure that’s even a conundrum but whatever it was, he was on a mission to complete it.
As we approached the second of two kiosks, a young woman sat upon her chair, obviously bored (by the look on her face and the almost “falling asleep” position of her body), cradling her chin in her left hand while her right hand slowly worked a computer mouse. As we got close enough to read the computer screen, we saw the web page “University of Guelph.”
I thought it at the same time Brian articulated it: “I should have gone to college. If I did, maybe I wouldn’t be stuck with this crappy job.”
This got me to thinking.
Do you, personally, feel that you have found your purpose in life? Do you approach your work as a mission and not just a job? Do you approach each part of your work with enthusiasm? Have you ever taken the time to explore whether or not you are doing what you are meant to be doing?
My brother Brian recently relocated from Eastern Canada to Alberta. Originally came looking for work; anything he could find that would be better that what he was doing: cooking fast food in a restaurant chain.
After taking an aptitude test on-line, he discovered that his old career (some ten years before) of retail management was what he was naturally good at. We dusted off his resume, updated it to reflect his retail management experience, and within five days, he was offered a retail management job with a large company who saw the benefit of him being able to use his natural gifts.
I am not advocating that you should quit your job today. What I am saying is that if you are not completely satisfied with your work right now, perhaps it may be that you’re not using your natural talents. Take the time to discover what your natural abilities are. Take an aptitude test. Read books which open your mind to your natural gifts. Attend the courses that help you through some self-discovery. Find out what you’re naturally good at and then slowly start graduating towards it. You may surprise yourself in learning that the job you have right now, might be the job you’re just naturally good at.
If that’s the case then here’s the bad news: maybe it’s not the job that’s crappy; maybe it’s you.
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