The Real Value of Hard Work, Especially When You Hate Your Job
Updated: Sep 21, 2019
Have you ever had a job you hated or at least, really disliked? If so, welcome to about 99.9999 of us. For those who have never hate their jobs, well, then I'm just going to say it right up front, I hate you, or at least, consider yourself incredibly lucky.
For the rest of us though, there is a lesson in putting in a shift at our place of work that could change your life down the road.
Welcome back to The Inspired. I was away for much of August for some much needed R&R, visiting family and old friends, and allowing the rest button to take hold.
What also took hold were some amazing life lessons and great stories I'm excited to share with you again.
The first one starts like this...
A few weeks back I took my parents to our favourite coffee local, in a small coastal town in southern Croatia, where my parents enjoy their seaside summers in the twilight of their lives, and I’d arrived for a two week break from it all.
As we sat awaiting our coffee, we met Jela, in her late 70’s, who owns the coffee shop called Imas Caffe bar.
Jela is not just the owner, she is the only one working each morning serving their many regulars. And there’s a reason for that…
Jela and her family been running Imas, in different variations, for an incredible 50 years.
Times, to say the least, have changed since they started, but what hasn't is a great cup of slow roast coffee, done just right, and it’s always served with a smile.
But it wasn’t just the great coffee or smile she served.
In the five consecutive mornings I visited, Jela had me feeling like part of her family. Welcomed on arrival. And at home while there. Jela remembered my order by the second visit. And by the third day she’d already started brewing my cappuccino before I could order it.
Jela had a quality to her service that was second to none.
But while the ocean view is free, what isn’t is finding people willing to put in the time and effort to make those perfectly refined coffees.
Jela quickly got into how hard it’s been to keep the business going.
She echos something we hear each day…
“There must be patience in what we do.”
“And the reward should be in the act itself. In knowing that it was a job well done.”
Jela knows that serving coffee each morning is not a young person's dream job, but it can teach us lessons we can take forward.
Habits and rules that can govern our success and happiness.
Lessons that each of us should learn early in our lives:
Like the importance of discipline. And the dedication to tasks.
There's a quote I recently came across that said:
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Something to think about.
In life for most of us today, we may not be living the dream we had hoped for.
We may not be working in place or position we love.
But our current situations can be used as a springboard to our futures.
Something Jela demonstrates quietly with each cup of her delicious coffee.
A life lesson Jela has given to us all.
Thanks for reading. For more real life stories filled with great life lessons visit us at www.the-inspired.com and don't forget to subscribe and share this story with friends.
Goran Yerkovich. Founder at The-Inspired.com
