Craig Johnson's Karate USA

“When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually we will be paid more for what we do.”

A farmer had several boys and he worked them extremely hard around the farm. One day, one of the neighbors pointed out that it wasn’t necessary to work the boys that hard to raise a crop. The farmer quietly but firmly responded, “I’m not just raising crops, I’m raising boys.”

A way we can have ‘permanent employment’ is by teaching ourselves from the very beginning to give our best, and then some, to become the go-to person for our teammates and our boss. When we show up early for work, stay late, do the very best we are capable of doing, and do it with an enthusiastic smile, we are making ourselves irreplaceable. When we learn new things to do and take on additional responsibilities, sooner or later it will come our employer’s attention.

I learned that lesson from a man who only went to school through the 8th grade. He married at 19, worked in a factory, and then was able to buy a small dairy farm that included 140 acres for crops. He and his wife raised 6 kids on that farm. When he retired at age 65, he moved into town and took a job as a janitor at the local middle school, even though he suffered from arthritis.

When he passed away he and his wife had accumulated an estate that added up to a tidy sum. He didn’t win the lottery, or build a new invention. He just worked, steadily day in and day out, and he was indeed irreplaceable

He was my grandfather, and he passed his work ethic down to his son, my dad, who is still working in his 70’s, and he to me.