Growing up in Hawaii…I’ve shared about one of my first jobs being on a banana farm.  As you would imagine, agriculture is one of the primary industries on the island so naturally, several of the jobs I have had throughout my life in Hawaii involved farms in one form or another.

After finishing the work on the banana farm, I was offered a summer job to pick coffee beans.  I was excited, as I was given a bag and told that for every full bag, I’d be given $50.  While the bag was large, I was excited, as I could see exactly what I needed to do…and more importantly, I knew what the target was.  In short, it was to pick coffee beans, place them in the bag, and once the bag was full…voila…$50.  It seemed rather simple…and it was.  However, just because it was simple, didn’t make it easy.  It took several days to be able to fill a 60kg bag…and while originally, I had thought I’d be making a quick profit, the reality was that it was a lot more effort than I had thought.

Over the weekend, I was thinking about the seemingly never-ending amount of work that each of us is managing and conducting each and every day.  I think about the effort that goes into the work which is done, and it amazes me that we’re able to accomplish the many wonderful things we are able to accomplish…through our creativity, innovation and skillful use of time…even if at times it feels like there is no time. 

While thinking about this and reflecting on the past, I was wondering if there are times at work where any of you are feeling that you’re not making as much progress as you’d like, or that the end result was less than as satisfying as one would hope?

When I finished picking my first bag of coffee beans, I was quite frustrated and expressed to my boss how disappointing it was to have worked so hard for something that produced so little.   I’ll never forget his reply, as he said that while it may look like a simple bag of coffee beans, the average number of cups of coffee from 1kg of beans was from 120-140.  He quickly did the math at the time and said that through my efforts, I provided from 7,200-8,400 cups of coffee to individuals. 

I know it’s simple…but at that moment, I realized that my effort was meaningful and had a real impact.  While it didn’t change how tedious the work was, it gave me a better appreciation for the impact that my work had on others.