Episode 139: You are more then your job, you're amazing!

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I want to share with you a story about my first week of work back in 1990. And that was the same week of a gentleman I met at my job. It was his last week of work after 35 years. I remember as I was being toured that first week, meeting so many people, I couldn't remember all their names, but he stood out amongst all those people, amongst all those memories that I have, or those memories, those few memories I have left after so many years ago. I remember him. I remember him for, not only remember his name, I could vaguely remember his face, but I want to share with you experience of what I experienced. A young person right out of college, my entire career ahead of me, meeting someone who's finishing their career the same week. Quite a profound moment. When I met him and when he was at his cubicle, he showed me all the innovations that he had done during his 35 years, how he had hacked a spreadsheet into making it into a word processor program. If you guys remember Lotus 1-2-3, that's what it— That was his masterpiece software program. He showed me how he used these transparent foils put on top of a light projector that shines on a wall to make 3D presentations. I was blown away. This guy, using a magic marker and tape, was able to make a 3D presentation. I still remember that to this day. Sometimes I see modern presentations and they still ain't come close. To what he did. I was impressed, but I was most impressed with the pride he had. For 35 years, this man still had energy. He was showing me all the things he had accomplished, all the reports that he had been, um, complimented on. He had so much pride as he went around his cubicle showing me all the different things that he had done that people had given him recognition for. And I was impressed. He made an impression on me, obviously, if I still remember that to this day, 31 years later. That Friday, my first Friday, my first "Thank God it's Friday" of my work career— excuse me— I went by his cubicle to say goodbye to him, pay my respects, and wish him good luck in his retirement. And I found him sitting on top of a cardboard box, one of the cardboard boxes he had packed, because his entire cubicle is now in cardboard boxes and he was ready to go. But instead of being enthusiastically ready to go to start his long-deserved time off, he was bent over in almost a fetal position on a cardboard box. I didn't know what to do. I'd never been in this situation before. I had to comfort an old man that I barely knew. I just met. He's 35 years my senior, but something was wrong. So I, like a kid, went over to him and said, are you okay? What's wrong? I came over to wish you goodbye. I thought you would be happy. What's wrong? And he lifted his head, and he wasn't in tears. He was just broken. He looked— every part of his body was hunched over and broken, and he was holding something in his two hands that he just— very tightly. And I thought he was going to show me some, some metal, something he found while cleaning out his desk that reminded him of some moment or someone special. Instead, he turned to me and he said, "Look." He had a box in his hand and he opened up the box. And it was inside the box, was a watch. He said, "After 35 years, after working more than 8 hours a day, every single day, After working on weekends, late throughout the weekends, ignoring my family, not spending time with my kids to make sure that that report was done properly, to make sure everybody was followed up, to make sure everything was done correctly. I sacrificed my entire life, Thomas Anglero. I sacrificed my family. I sacrificed myself. I sacrificed my time. And then he went quiet. And I'm just holding on going, yeah, and? And he goes, and for all that, here I am. It's 5 o'clock on my last day. I'm done. And this company, all that sacrifice And they just gave me a watch. A watch. For 35 years of my life, I missed everything. I missed everyone. 'And they give me a watch?' And he put his head down again. He was so broken. And at that moment I realized he just broke me. But he broke me in a different way, because he broke the line that I was about to go down, that every one of us are probably going down. There are very few people who don't go that line. And that is you get a job and you're committed to that job, and that job is your whole goal. You put your entire life life into it. Let me ask you, is all that sacrifice worth it? At the end of the day, and today in this modern day, you're not gonna even get a goddamn watch. You might not even get a nod. You probably get an email. Why are we sacrificing? Why are we banging our heads? Are you truly, truly happy? With what you're doing and where you spend your time? Are the things you're doing, the people you're with, are they the ones that you absolutely obsess over and that is what you would define as your life? Are the activities and projects and assignments, is that what absolutely is what you're— what you were born for? I look around now with the Great Resignation and all the changes going on in the world, and I'm saying, God, I think these young people are closer to it because they're driven by something inside them and they want to make a difference. So many of us are in the office making sure this project is done correctly and that we sell this product and that we impress the boss and that we do all these things. But is that who you are? Have you forgotten the answer to the question of who you are is what you are? But if you focus on making someone else rich, you focus on making someone else famous, you focus on getting money out of someone else, is that who you are? Who the hell are you? What is your purpose here? What truly makes you happy? And if you even come close to understanding the question of what makes you happy, why the hell Why aren't you doing that all the time? Why isn't it possible to have an income that— based on the things that make you happy all the time? What is it that we're doing? What is it that you're thinking? Or is it what most people do? You know that the questions that I'm asking now are the most difficult questions and they hurt, and you spend no time with it. And yet during this podcast, I get to put my finger in that wound and for a moment you feel the pain and then you run from it. 35 years from now, you'll be bent over on a cardboard box wondering what the hell did you do. So let me ask you, what are you doing? That cardboard box is the accumulation of all the mistakes that you've made, all the events that you missed. All the people you should have been laughing with, all the hugs you should have gotten. What are you doing? What are you thinking? What do you love? And what you're doing today, is it loving you? Are you surrounded by people who love you and respect you? Are you stuck in Microsoft Teams meetings or Zoom meetings or things like that? I think back to when I was a kid and we were so poor. We didn't have food all the time, but we ate— at least ate one or two meals a day. That's good. I won't say it was that poor that we didn't eat. We ate something every day. But today, so many people have, and they take for granted that they have. And I'm wondering that we've all been a bit too spoiled, that we got to get back to our roots. Why are we here? What do we have? And then what are we going to do with it? What are you going to do with yourself? What are you going to do with your time? You're not worried about your next meal, are you? You're eating. You're blessed. They say something like 30% of people on this planet don't know where their next meal is coming from. Do you know how lucky you are? They say more than that don't have a room, a shelter, a roof over their head. Shelter, running water. Do you know how lucky you are? And so a lot of you like, oh, this is just like a TV commercial, it's all bullshit. Let me tell you something, I'm from that shit and it ain't funny, it ain't nice. And the fact you can't take this moment serious means that you're not dealing with the reality is that in one single moment everything could change for you and you could enter that world and you're not from that world. So with the moment that you have right now, with all the advantage you have right now that you've taken for granted, what are you doing with it? And are you working your way towards the cardboard box, towards the watch or the email or nothing? I remember I was working this other job, this girl, she was a consultant. She worked at the job for 3 years, but because she was a consultant, she wasn't full-time, but she was part of us, she was one of us. And her very last day, it was a Tuesday afternoon, it was a Tuesday in the middle of the week, her consulting contract ended in the middle of the week. I remember, I wanted to say goodbye to her, but I was— my last meeting ran very late. So I went over to her desk to say goodbye to her, give a hug and say, thank you very much, wonderful working with you for 3 years. And you know what was at her desk? Her ID badge. They told me that there was no one threw a party, no one said goodbye. She looked around No one cared. So he left her— she left her ID badge on the desk and just walked out after committing 3 years of her life to the company. No one cares. I'm trying to tell you that why, why are you doing what you're doing? You better have an answer for that question, because the look I saw on that old man How broken he was that he realized that he spent all his life, his time, and it meant nothing on those final moments. It meant nothing to anyone. If you're working, if you're living a life that way, Don't end up on a cardboard box. This is your moment to change your life around. This is your moment to be whoever you want to be. Go forth and spread beauty and light. I want you to reflect really hard on the story I told you about the old man on the cardboard box. And then I want you to visualize yourself sitting there on a cardboard box. Matter of fact, you want to do something better, go find a cardboard box. Matter of fact, go sit on your sofa and simulate it. And put your two hands together, clasp them open, and then open your palms and make believe what you have in your palm is a damn watch. A watch, and you are done with your career, and that's all you got to show for it, and no one cares. How proud do you feel now with decisions you're making right now? How proud do you want to feel in that moment? Then start doing what's going to make you proud in that moment. Or better yet, be so happy and so proud of what you're doing every single day that that moment never comes because there's no definition of the word retirement. You're just happy all the time, and that's the way life is supposed to be, full of love. I love you all. I love you. I share this story that is so deeply rooted in me, definitely a moment that defines me, because I hope it defines you. I hope this story calls your bullshit. And then I hope you really, really do something about it. I know it's scary. I know it's heavy. But you're not alone. I'm always here for you. Listen to this episode again and again and know that you are never going to be alone. But that this is the right thing for you to do because you're worth it. Your life, your time, the people who need you know you're worth it. So spend more time with them and look forward to all the people you're going to meet that you haven't met. They're going to bring love into your life. I'm Thomas Anglero. From the deepest part of my soul, I love you. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.