A Meaningless Skill - A Major Score
By Steve Gahagen
In college I worked at Friendly’s Ice Cream outside of Boston, Massachusetts. I worked there for four years, becoming somewhat of a professional ice cream scooper. This appeared to be a mostly meaningless skill until one day in the college dining hall, I saw a gorgeous freshmen girl struggling with scooping her ice cream. Lucky for me, the ice cream was as hard as a rock. She struggled, her weak wrists unable to rescue the ice cream from the tub. I offered to help. And shortly thereafter, I landed the girl of my dreams. She is still the love of my life.
Never underestimate the importance of doing your work well. That meaningless skill you have could be the tipping point in your life and lead to a much greater opportunity.
Questions to consider
I encourage you to discuss these questions around the office water cooler or home dinner table. You can breathe life into people in your sphere of influence as you ask them to share their thoughts.
What jobs have you had in which you learned skills that might seem meaningless?
How did those jobs help form your character and work ethic?
How has doing your work well led to other opportunities?