The Carrot

When Harry met Delwar

So there we were, my colleague Harry and I, getting our bags lugged up to our hotel rooms in Beverly Hills after flying in from Minneapolis. You know the feeling ... long flight, tight center-row squeeze, chatty neighbors, nauseous cab ride ... once you get to the hotel, it's all you can do to take those few final steps into your hotel room and collapse on the bed.

Delwar was our bellhop and my colleague's room was first. To tell you the truth, I was getting somewhat annoyed at all the questions Harry was asking. "What's your name?" "How long have you worked here?" "Do you live nearby?" Like I said, all I could think of was crashing on that bed. So many questions, I thought. So little patience ...

The next morning, I saw Delwar in the lobby and decided to ask a few questions of my own. "Any movie stars stay here?" I inquired.

"Oh yeah," answered Delwar. "Bill Murray likes it here. Tom Cruise has been here. Julia Roberts. The American Idol people always stay here."

After a short pause – for Delwar to mentally scroll through all the stars he'd met, I assumed – he continued. "But you know something, sir, there's one person in particular that I remember the most."

"Who's that?" I asked excitedly, imagining any number of celebrities he might mention.

"Your friend, Harry." he responded. "Of all the famous people that come through here, Harry's the only one who ever asked me my name."

Bam. Right between the eyes. Thank you Delwar. Thank you Harry.

Once again, I was reminded about the power of presence – or in FISH! lingo, "Being There" for others. (Not to mention how much work I needed to do to live this principle more often!)

Zambonis to Avon Ladies

Simple, isn't it:

"If you don't enjoy your work, it's hard getting up in the morning, you know?"

That from Al Sobotka living his dream job (and maybe mine!) as a Zamboni driver for the Detroit Red Wings.

Looking for a little inspiration about your own Dream Job? Check out Salary.com's fun list of Dream Jobs that I first heard about from Curt Rosengren on his Passion Catalyst blog.

Salary.com has compiled a whimsical list of jobs that float the boat for a bunch of regular folks simply following their bliss. (Easy, isn't it!)

Once you select a Dream Job to read about, what's also fun (or depressing) is to compare the list of Dream Jobs on the left with the listing of Yahoo "Top Jobs" on the right. Far be it for me to judge, but I just can't help but wonder how many of the folks in those "Top Jobs" are as fulfilled as the folks featured in the Dream Jobs.

Eric McNulty, a blogger over at Worthwhile Magazine, shared an insightful comment by Dan Pink that sheds some light on the disconnect. Dan says, "You may know an accountant who goes home to a studio to paint, but I doubt you know a painter who goes home to do taxes as a hobby."

I think that's the key: to weave a little more "dream" into whatever day-to-day jobs we do have. Not all of us are lucky enough to have fallen into our perfect dream jobs yet. But we have to start somewhere and I also think we have a responsibility to bring our best gifts to work with us. For instance, why couldn't that accountant bring some of his art to work with him? Imagine the creativity of those spreadsheets!

I love writing, for example. So I'm having fun writing these blogs and expressing some of my ideas in The Carrot that I can't always express in my regular day-to-day office conversations. Works just fine for me.

What about you? Anything in the way of bringing more of what you love to work?