Play at Work!

Since it’s a Friday and I’m hoping (Hoping!) it’s going to be a good one I thought I’d share another story from the “Smartest Guy I Know”, my old boss and mentor.

As I have shared in the past this man worked harder than pretty much anybody else I knew, and while he had us working harder than anyone else we knew, it was never horrible, it was never drudgery and it was never boring. Long hours, difficult working conditions, tough employee issues and the usual array of plating and chemistry mysteries to solve, we had long difficult days for sure. But one thing that kept us going was how we went about facing all of those challenges.

Work at Play and Play at Work

The one thing we did well, maybe the only thing that we really did better than our competition, was we had fun doing it.

We worked really hard and carried the load like all metal finishers do. We put in long hours and the work was physical, mental and stressful. We were a young and growing company (we went from $2 million annually in sales to $10 million annually in 8 years) and the growing pains were evident.

But we didn’t crack. We didn’t quit. We didn’t stop pushing forward. And the biggest reason for that?

We played at work.

Now don’t get the impression that this was an episode of "Kindergarten Platers". This was no day care with a playground outside. There was an outside smoking area and an alley that I avoided so as not to know what was going on out there, but this was no game. We worked hard.

We routinely were at work 60 hours a week.  We worked Saturdays and occasionally had meetings on Sundays.  During the 1st Gulf War we worked till midnight for weeks.  But while all of that work was being done, we laughed and talked. We ate lunch together. We spent time at each other’s houses and knew each other’s spouses. Or in some cases “ex-spouses”. We played softball on a team that won the city championship, played hockey on Tuesday nights and had a beer in the parking lot afterward. We even had Chinese food delivered to our cars in that parking lot after we played. There was a lot of fun and a lot of laughter, a lot of product moved through that shop and money was made.

Play Like a Champion (apologies to ND)

I had a conversation with a coworker from that era a few weeks ago. We hadn’t talked in a few years and it was great to catch up with him. The first thing he said was how much he missed that time and the people we were friends with and the3 success that we had.  The way we talked was like old buddies from school who won the Thanksgiving Day Game senior year or maybe a championship back in the day. And we were. We were champions who worked our butts off and forgot to notice.

So on this Friday I hope you all have a great day at work and I hope you play all day. While getting everything on your to do list done and getting in touch with all those people you need to reach of course.

But be sure send somebody to get the “brass magnet”. Get lunch with your coworkers or a customer at King Cutlet (or whatever your favorite take out place is). Maybe even have a beer and a laugh after work. Get your job done and do it better than you thought you could. Because those people you laugh with, eat lunch with?  You count on them every day to get their jobs done while making you smile are they counting on you for the same.

And after you “Play at Work”? Go “Work at Play”. Go put an effort into the weekend and having fun away from work. You’ll be ready to do it all over again on Monday!