Is My Job Important? Part 1 - The Man Who Swept the Floor

I like this story and thought I would post it:

"Bernie was a talented young man, in his early twenties, who had his mind set on success. He swept the floor of his workplace daily, after doing his job, and contemplated what success meant to him. He sometimes seemed frustrated that he was sweeping the floor and not doing his dream-job, but those looks of frustration were merely a result of his intense thoughts. He thought about one day running his own business.

After Bernie did what he was supposed to for the day, he filled the rest of the time not only by sweeping, but by cleaning washrooms and taking out garbage. He was constantly reminded by his co-workers that he didn't have to do those things but Bernie just smiled and carried on. Sometimes he did his regular work so fast that he ended up with more time for sweeping and cleaning.

To the average worker, it appeared as though Bernie was sucking up to management and trying to make them look bad, but they were wrong. It is true that Bernie was promoted a couple of times over those with more seniority, but that wasn't on his agenda and even though he was eventually further ahead and getting raises, he still swept floors. He even re-swept the floor after another disrespectful co-worker spit on it and he 'let it go' without incident.

Eventually, Bernie started a service business part time and was very good at what he did. He had studied in his spare time to learn a trade and it eventually paid off. He still does well and continues to move forward.

So, why did Bernie sweep and clean in his spare time when he clearly could have relaxed without any pressure to over-work himself? There were several reasons:

1) He kept moving to keep himself in good shape.
2) He made notes of almost every aspect of the business because he could travel into all departments and learn about them while networking with other co-workers he got along with.
3) He learned that always being busy made him untouchable at work and he would be the least likely candidate to be laid off should there be a slump in business.
4) Most importantly, he could do the one thing that pleased him the most: 'think'. He thought about starting businesses, he thought about what kind of staff members were most beneficial to a company, he thought about how to be a good manager by taking cues from both good and bad, he thought about lyrics for songs, he thought about his future and everything else he wanted to think about - and nobody could stop him!

They could not stop him and they would not stop him, and Bernie knew that. If he was busy all the time with seemingly menial tasks, he could get a lot of work done in his head and at the same time, the business never looked so clean! Because it was a retail store, cleanliness was important for the customers.

Where's Bernie now? Running his service business and continuing to educate himself and grow. In short, he is doing exactly what he wants to be doing.

Sweeping the floor may seem like a menial task requiring little skill, but not everybody is good at it...and not everybody can see the opportunities in it!"

- Anonymous