The other day I was looking for something in a shop. A packer noticed my confusion and cheerfully offered to help. He took me from aisle to aisle until I found what I was looking for. He did not need to help me but he did, with all his heart. He taught me a few lessons about respecting the room you are in.
Wadzanai Mabuto CA(SA) Senior Lecturer in the Department of Accounting at UJ
Respecting the room you are currently in means being excellent in your work, being consistent, and being present and aware of the needs of others.
Excellence
Packing items onto a shelf can be considered quite a monotonous and unfulfilling job to do. My encounter with the packer taught me something about being excellent in the work I am doing, even if it is not the work I want to be doing. There was something different about this packer. Even before he offered to help me, I had observed him meticulously packing away items into the shelf. You could tell that the way that he conducts himself in his work comes naturally to him, that it is something that he does every day. He was not putting up an act: it is something he repeatedly does.
Consistency
To become excellent in any endeavour, one must repeatedly do the same thing while constantly finding a way to do it better. As you develop the muscle of sticking through something, you can simultaneously push through the not-so-nice parts of your job, give it your all, and trick your mind that you enjoy what you do. I do not doubt that this is something that this packer does every day with no favour towards a particular customer. You can sense when someone is doing something with genuine intentions. Consistency is a hard currency that never fluctuates in value.
Being present and helping others
Often, we find ourselves in limbo whereby we are not where we used to be, but we are far from where we want to be. We tend to be too focused on the future and oversee the beauty in the now. When the packer assisted in helping me while he was busy with his work, he decided to be present to help someone that could not help themselves. Taking the focus away from our own needs to the needs of others has a fantastic way of energising you!
I do not know what space in life you find yourself in. If you happen to be in a place where you feel it isn’t where you want to be, I say to you, respect the room you are in right now and give it your best. ‘It may not be the thing that you want, but it may be the thing that leads to the thing’ − TD Jakes.
The bigger picture
‘Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence’ − Unknown
- Write down a personal mission statement for your life. This will help you have a balanced view of life and give you perspective as you incorporate your roles and goals in every aspect of your life.
- Be content with where you are while simultaneously working on your next move. There’s someone, somewhere watching and observing you to see if you are consistently being excellent in your work and being present and helping others!
