Am I showing my age when the song by Loverboy, "everybody's working for the weekend" pops into my head? What a great catchy tune and also brings me back to those days when I had some of my first jobs and all I looked forward to was 5:00 on a Friday. That dreadful grind that gleamed with hope of better careers to come in the future. One of my first jobs, at the age of 16, was to fold napkins for a banquet hall. I was the best folder and would challenge myself to get more napkins folded than all the other half interested teenagers who were hired to fold napkins into fancy shapes. Although dreadful at the time, I still use a lot of what I learned in those long hours of folding napkins. Discipline, persistence, creativity........When you come over to my house for a dinner party, you better believe you have a fancy folded napkin at your plate!
As this economy continues to hit hard times, I am surrounded by many people who have got laid off, downsized, rightsized, company went bankrupt, etc. These people have found themselves in situations were they are doing whatever it takes to make extra money, even if they have to fold napkins. I couldn't help but reference my latest book that I am reading, "Start Where You Are", by Chris Gardner. Many people know him better by the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness". If you haven't had a chance to watch the movie or read the book, I highly recommend it. I had the privilege to listen to him speak live. He is humble but worked hard (really hard) and made a lot of sacrifices that most people would not be willing to make to arrive where he is today. His main focus was being the kind of dad that he never had the ability to experience.
