I want to tell you a little story that
could make a wonderful difference in
your life. You may already know about
everything I'm going to tell you. If you
do, you're a remarkable person, and
according to the latest statistics you
belong to the top 5% of all the working
people in the world. You're to be congratulated.
If you don't know about the
things I'm going to say, you've been
holding yourself back, not only on the
job but you're also missing a big percentage
of the greatest joy in life. I want
to talk about your boss and your relationship
with him. How you handle this
relationship will determine your success
or failure. It will determine how much
money you make or do not make, and it
will determine whether you're a happy
person or an unhappy person.
So let's talk about you and your
boss. Who is your boss? You have only
one and every working person, from
the president of the largest corporation
to the shoeshine boy, has the same
boss. He is simply the customer. There
never has been, there is not now, and
there never will be any boss but the
customer. He is the one boss you must
please. Everything you own he has
paid for. He buys your home, your
cars, your clothes. He pays for your
vacations and puts your children
through school. He pays your doctor
bills and writes every paycheck you
will ever receive. He will give you
every promotion you will ever obtain
during your lifetime, and he will discharge
you if you displease him.
Sometimes, particularly these days
of seemingly complex economics and
big business, we lose sight of just what
business is. It all started back during
the most primitive times. A man, in
order to fend for himself and his family,
had to provide his own food and his
own shelter. He had to do his own
fighting and fashion his own rough
clothes and crude weapons for hunting
and materials for fishing. Later he
had to manufacture his own farming
implements. In short, each person had
to personally take care of every department
of his or her life.
Naturally it came about that men
and women with certain talents
appeared. One person was particularly
adept at fashioning spears, another at
fishing, another at hunting, another at
making garments, and so on. It was
only natural that soon these individuals
found that they could best spend
most of their time in the pursuit of that
at which they were most talented and
trade their production for the production
of others.
As a result, the person who made
spears found that others would give
him a share of their food, clothing, and
so on, if he'd provide them with
spears. Thus, trade and commerce
began. It's far more complex today but
still based on the same principle. A
person's money is the result of his production,
and he trades it for things he
needs and wants. And it's here that
logical discrimination comes into the
picture.
Since his money is the result of his
work, it's left to his discretion as to
where he spends it. It is here that he
assumes the role of boss. He will spend
his money only with those whom he
feels have earned it. And this is as it
should be. You and I are exactly the
same way. If someone treats you badly
in any way, you instinctively feel that
he has not earned your business and
you will withhold it from him.
Over a period of time this amounts
to a really substantial penalty. Let's say
a family spends $100 a week for food,
and because they've been mistreated
or even get the feeling they're not
appreciated or liked, they stop doing
business at one store and take their
business to another one. That's a
penalty to one store of $5,200 a year
and an increase of that amount at
another store. In 10 years it amounts to
$52,000. This amount of money can be
lost by not realizing who the boss really
is. The same thing applies to our
clothes, drug items, hardware, cleaning,
gasoline, automobiles, everything
we purchase.
The average family earns more than
$42,000 a year. This money pays your
salary and mine if we earn it. And our
prosperity as individuals hinges
directly on our attitude toward what
we do for a living. The man who works
on an automotive assembly line might
not think much about the car at the
point of sale, nor about the family who
will eventually buy and travel in that
car. But that family pays his salary,
and they will withhold the purchase of
the car on which he works if it does
not earn their respect and admiration.
If you doubt this even for a moment,
think of the cars that once were popular
and that can no longer be seen on
the road. This applies to all products.
Having earned a successful place in
the economy should not be confused
with keeping it. It must be earned
every day, year in, year out. There's
not a single company that could not go
out of business. Everything depends
on how the boss is treated, the boss
being the customer. And yet the customer
is eminently fair, just as you are.
He can be won back, and if he's treated
with the importance that he
deserves, he can in a few years bring a
lot of other people into your place of
business.
Let me tell you something you may
not have thought about. If you get in
your car and start driving across the
country, you will pass many thousands
of businesses, from small restaurants,
drug stores, grocery stores, gas
stations, to great sprawling corporate
complexes covering hundreds of acres
and employing thousands of people.
By simply looking at each one you can
tell how they're treating the boss.
Did you know that your rewards are
in exact proportion to your service?
That's right. We're paid exactly what
we earn, but no more. And you can tell
by looking at any business exactly
what it has earned by seeing what it
has. It's the same with people. We get
back exactly what we earn, but not a
penny more. And this, again, is just
the way it should be. A person might be underpaid for a while, but the
scales of life must balance eventually
and he will, in the end, receive just
what he's earned.
There are of course two ways in
which we're paid for what we do. One
is tangible in the form of money, and
the other is intangible, but just as
important. To many it's more important.
This latter form of payment
comes in the form of inner satisfaction,
in the form of joy as a result of accomplishment.
It also comes in the form of
satisfaction in position and the standing
it gives us.
So each of us is paid in these two
ways: money and satisfaction. And
there's a very simple way to increase
both of these forms of income. You
may wonder how I can say that I can
tell you of a simple way to increase
your income from the standpoint of
money as well as inner satisfaction.
Yet I can, and you'll be able to see and
spend the results.
First, I want you to understand and
believe completely the great law that
lies as the foundation of all life,
business and personal. It is that
our rewards in life will be in
exact proportion to our service.
The more you think about this
and observe people and businesses
in their true light, the
more you'll see the undeniable
truth of it.
Try as best you can to estimate the
proportion of your total ability you
have been giving to your work. I don't
think anyone gives 100%. I don't think
it's possible to give 100% day in and
day out. But estimate what you consider
to be the percentage of 100% you
have been giving to your work. Would
you say it's been 30%? 50%?
Since your rewards will be in exact
proportion to your service, you can
increase your income both financially
and from an inner satisfaction standpoint
simply by narrowing the distance
between what you have been
giving to your work and the 100% of
which it may be said you could give
under ideal conditions. You don't
have to ask for a raise; the income will
appear of its own accord and in the
right time. You may want to question
this, but try to take my word for it.
The second point I want to make is
this: If you will begin to do your
work better, better than you've ever
done before, you will immediately
begin to receive incalculably more
inner satisfaction. You'll also find
that what may have been a boring or
uninteresting job will take on new
meaning and interest. No matter what
it is that you do during the entire
working day, try in every case to do a
little more than you have to, more
than you're being paid for. Because
unless you do more than you're being
paid for now, you can't hope for or
justify an increase in pay.
The third point is, each of us is interdependent.
As I pointed out earlier,
other people pay our salaries, buy our
homes, clothe, feed, and educate our
children. Therefore we depend on others
for our very lives, just as they must
depend on us. If we expect others to
give us excellent service and fine products
for the money we spend, doesn't it
make good sense that we should treat
them the same way? Every hour spent
at our work should be spent in the
attempt to give the best of which we
are capable, a baker's dozen for the
money our company's customers
spend for our products and services
and with which our salaries are paid.
A person who tries to get the maximum
return for the minimum of effort
is only kidding himself. Sooner or
later the scales will balance. They
must, for that is the law whether we
like it or not. This kind of individual
actually shrinks as a person, as a
human being. He has no real place in a
dynamic and swiftly changing world.
The fourth point is to try each day to
find some way in which the work you're
doing can be improved. Here again
you're guaranteeing an increase in your
income in both categories. We all know
the cynical type of individual who will
laugh at this. I know them; you know
them. But I don't know one who could
be said to be doing well, do you?
I know lots of men and women at
the top of their fields who live their
lives every day in the way I have suggested.
Rather than go along with
someone who's never proved in his
own life that he knows what he's talking
about, I'd prefer to believe the one
who said, "As ye sow, so shall ye
reap." I feel, as I'm sure you do, that
he was more qualified to speak than
the know-it-all who is behind in his
installment payments.
Anyway, it's worth a test. If you'll
follow my suggestions for the next
year, you'll be a different person, living
a rich, rewarding, and meaningful
life. Four things, all of them simple.
One, remember that our rewards in
life will be in exact proportion to our
service.
Two, by giving your work a larger
percentage of your capabilities and talents,
you will, you must, increase your
income substantially.
Three, since our lives depend on
others, treat others in every facet of
your life exactly as you want others to
treat you. If you expect others to give
you excellent products and services for
the money you and your family spend,
then you should make certain that your
job is handled as excellently as it is
possible for you, since it is the money
of others that pays your salary.
Four, try to find some way every
day in which your work can be
improved. And above all, know your
boss. He's the customer. Treat
him with the respect, care,
courtesy, and good humor he
deserves. Remember, he pays
all your bills every month. He
will buy everything you will
ever own. He may be coarse,
crude, ignorant, selfish, conniving,
and a thoroughgoing savage.
He often will be. Here it is more
important than ever that you treat him
with all the care and attention you can
muster. If you don't and if you permit
his attitude to affect yours, you're
admitting that he's the stronger person.
If you respond the same way he
conducts himself, you're admitting
you're no better than he is.
Most people, however, are nice people.
They're people like you and me
who want to be liked and want to get
along, who want to be friends. They
have problems and sorrows of their
own about which we're not aware.
They have bad days and disappointments.
Make sure that the time they're
with you is a high spot in their day
and that they'll want to come back, not
just because of your company, but
because of you.
If you'll do these things for a year,
you'll be surprised and delighted, and
you'll find you wouldn't live any other
way for the world. If you're already living
this way, you know what I mean.
Source: Earl Nightingale's Start Here.
Follow these steps for one year and you will be a different
person, living a rich, rewarding, and meaningful life:
- Remember that your rewards in life are in exact proportion to your
service. Increase your service to others and your rewards will
increase in proportion.
- Give your work a larger percent of your capabilities and talents to
serve "the boss."
- Treat others in every facet of your life as you want others to treat you.
If you expect others to give you excellent products and
services for the money you and your family earn, make certain that
your job is handled as excellently as it is possible for you.
- Find some way every day in which your work can be improved to
benefit "the boss."
Learn more about Earl Nightingale and his programs.