| by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. The midnight hour was just striking 12. I should have been sleeping; until that moment had been sleeping. Instead, I bounded, yes literally leapt, out of my warm bed stacked high with a well stocked commissary of things necessary to get me through the night... ... extra blankets, a riot of pillows (why do most folks try to do with so few), the right books face down where left the night before); the tasty morsels so allowable and necessary before the dawn, and the crumbs which upon waking I find in interesting places about my person.... I tell you, I shot up caterwauling, mauling one of the most beautiful songs ever written... "With a Song in My Heart." For all that my rendition was grossly off key, the smile behind it couldn't have been more authentic... more radiant. For you see, I was going to work... yes, work! Wafted by my imperfect memory of one soaring song, I was about to experience happiness... a happiness I have experienced so many times before in my life; the happiness, yes, the very joy and privilege of going to -- work. Yes, work! The song that came out of nowhere, a lyric masterpiece by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Written in 1929 for the Broadway show "Spring is Here", it defines, as well as any human can, the essence of what love is... that which keeps a song in your heart forever and a day. Of the many fine versions you'll find in any search engine, I like the one by Jane Froman. Here is a lover indeed whose work was blissful and fulfilling... you can hear it in her beautiful voice. Stop a minute, find this rendition and savor before going on. Lovely, isn't it? It's a grand song for setting just the right tone for going to the work so very important in your life, your current job, the one you are glad to do today. "You don't know my work, buddy!" The first person who read this article when it was still a draft, couldn't help literally bursting out with a strong expostulation that went something like this, "Work blissful, huh? Work a privilege, huh? You don't know my job!!!" He all but added "Bah humbug" to his adamant declaration, strong meat meant to say all that was needed on the subject, cackling like a wet hen. "Privilege indeed..." Here's a person who doesn't see the benefit on his door step, the person who has failed to see just how well off he is, even if the job is less regal and remunerative than Your Majesty deserves. It's time to put all this in perspective; the better to show you just how very fortunate you are, whatever the job, whatever its limitations and inadequacies. Let's start with all the millions of our species who died in warfare of any kind, the great givers we call patriots. I can assure you of just how glad they would be to be given the opportunity and chance to do exactly what you do, but without the moans, groans and pervasive sense of outrage and irritation you carry daily to the work place, excoriated and derided for its inadequacies. They would see what you cannot... that the work is good and purposeful, whatever you are doing, under whatever circumstances you may be doing it. Then consider the legions of people worldwide, including people in your very nation and neighborhood, who would gratefully snatch your unappreciated work from you, the people who would do it faster, better, with a joyous outlook, and at half the wage, or even less. You worry about these folks and what they are doing to you, but you won't do what they do and squeeze satisfaction from your work as they do; and so your condescension and disdain fuel their advance... and your decline. Thus, you learn the hard way: you are expendable, something you have always regarded as incredible, unthinkable, horrible... and yet a fact of your future existence and diminishing prosperity. You demand everything from work... everything but your employer's well being. Did you today think of your work in terms of how you could make it better? Or did you do what you usually do: carp about everything that's wrong with this employer; consigning this person and all his works to the very devil, his way lit by the bluest words in your colorful vocabulary? Let's see... Did you say anything like this? "The boss is an idiot. Here's why...." " I can't believe we had to do (fill in the blank). That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Or, "What a moron! And he's got an MBA! Yikes!" Review your record. Were you helping your employer, her company and customers... or was the sum total of your involvement and commentary a mare's nest of acrimony, pettiness, and sustained abuse of the people you should instead be supporting and maintaining, the people who are supporting and maintaining you? In defense of even the worst work, the work menial, the boss unsupportive, your hopes and expectations bleak. Here are a few things to keep in mind: 1) If yours is truly the worst of work, congratulate yourself. From an undeniable bottom you can only go up; always assuming, of course, that you are willing to do the necessary to advance. 2) Before you throw your current, dismaying work away, have you tried to improve your circumstances? Have you considered how from your boss' standpoint, your job could be improved and your talents better used? The problem with most working people is that they have never considered the work they do from their superiors' position; only from their own. Brainstorm ways in which your work could advance their interests. Have you actually ever done this? I think we both know the answer to that, don't we? 3) Have you ever looked, really looked at your business and your work within it and, most important, what you could do to their advantage? Have you then drawn up an action agenda on what should be done... and your own role in the doing? 4) Do you have in place a plan for your work advancement? In other words, if you truly "hate" your work, have you considered how to use it as a stepping stone? Do you know the next step(s) beyond your current situation, what the requirements are, whether there will soon be openings (or not) and what you will do to snag one for yourself? In short, have you studied the crucial matter of your advancement with the care and meticulous methods of a scientist? 5) Just when do you plan to begin your advance? The correct answer better be "today" because any other answer makes clear you aren't serious... if you were you'd never wait to escape the work you say you detest. Oh, yes, one more thing: did you do any of this with a song in your heart for this is not only the best way to advance... but the only way. Just ask 89 year old Oscar Epstein, the Commonwealth of Massachusettts' oldest employee. For going on 64 years, he has worked for the Department of Transportation's Highway Division. In a recent story in "The Boston Globe" reporter Eric Moskowitz caught Epstein's secret. He "enjoys his work so much his co-workers sometimes catch him humming". In short, he is a happy man, content with himself, his work, his colleagues and the people they are all working to assist. No wonder he hums... for this is a man with a song in his heart... and now you know why you need to find your song and belt it out: "Can I help but rejoice/ that a song such as ours came to be?/ But I always knew/ I would live life through/ with a song in my heart for you/" Make sure you sing it at work today. It will make all the difference in the world. |
