I was talking with an experienced (older) co-worker yesterday, and he said something that really made me think about things. We were talking about different employees from in the past and the conversation turned to work ethic. He told me about a time when he was in the service and a lot of his peers would complain all the time about different things. One day the commanding officer pulled him into his office and asked him what his secret was. He was a little confused and didn’t know exactly what he was being asked.

The officer told him that he had never heard him complaining like a lot of the other guys, and he wanted to know what his secret was. This is what he said:

I’ve worked the corn fields, I’ve worked the cotton fields, and I know that I’ve got a good job here.

He said it all depends on your perspective and many things are relative. I’m not saying that we should always be content with where we are, but we should have a little of this perspective as well and definitely not complain as much.

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