Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 - (Page 21)

the un-comfort What motivates you? That’s the question I’d like to ask in this inaugural column on motivation. Are you motivated by fame, fortune, or fear? Or is it something deeper that fans the flames inside of you? Perhaps you are like Jeanne Louise Calment, whose burning desire enabled her to do something that no other human being has done before. A feat so spectacular that it generated headlines around the globe, got her a role in a motion picture, and landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records. A record that has yet to be beaten. Calment, however, did not initially motivate herself. It was someone else who drew the line in the sand. But, it became a line she was determined to cross. In motivation, we talk about getting outside of one’s comfort zone. It is only when we are uncomfortable that we begin to get motivated. Usually to get back into our comfort zone as quickly as possible. Born into the family of a middleclass store owner, Calment was firmly entrenched in her comfort zone. At age 21, she married a wealthy store owner and lived a life of leisure. She pursued her hobbies of tennis, the opera, and sampling France’s famous wines. Over the years, she met Impressionist painter Van Gogh; watched the erection of the Eiffel Tower; and attended the funeral of Hunchback of Notre Dame author Victor Hugo. Twenty years after her husband passed away, she had reached a stage in life where she had pretty much achieved everything that she was going to achieve. Then w What’s Pushing Your Buttons? by Robert Wilson zone along came a lawyer. The lawyer made Calment a The oldest person to have ever lived: proposition. Jeanne Louise Calment at age 20, and at age 122. She accepted it. He thought he was simply came along and offered up the making a smart business deal. “sucker-bet” that she would soon Inadvertently, he gave her a goal, die. It was motivation enough for and it took her 30 years to achieve Calment, who was determined to beat the lawyer. Thirty years later, it, but achieve it she did. Are you willing to keep your Raffray became the “sucker” when goals alive for 30 years? At what he passed away first at age 77. When asked about this by the point do you give up? Thomas Edison never gave up, instead he said, press, Calment simply said, “In “I have not failed. I’ve just found life, one sometimes makes bad deals.” 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Having met her goal, Calment Winston Churchill, during the bleakest hours of World War II, passed away five months later. kept an entire country motivated But on her way to this end, she with this die-hard conviction: “We achieved something else: At 122 shall defend our island, whatever years old, she became the oldest the cost may be, we shall fight on person to have ever lived. In future articles, we’ll examine the beaches in the fields and in the streets we shall never sur- further the ways in which motivation works. How to motivate ourrender.” Many of us give up too soon selves, our employees, customers, because we set limits on our goals. volunteers, friends, loved ones, and Achieving a goal begins with deter- children. I would like to get your mination. Then it’s just a matter feedback on which of these areas of of our giving them attention and motivation are of most interest to you. I’d also like to hear your stoenergy. When Calment was 92 years old, ries of how you may have overcome attorney François Raffray, age 47, adversity and what pushed you to offered to pay her $500 per month go the distance. Please e-mail me (a fortune in 1967) for the rest of at robert@jumpstartyourmeeting. her life, if she would leave her com with your suggestions and stories. house to him in her will. According to the actuarial tables, it was a great deal. Here was Robert Evans Wilson Jr. is a motivaan heir-less woman who had sur- tional speaker and humorist. He works vived her husband, children, and with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want grandchildren. A woman who was to think like innovators. For more just biding her time with nothing information on Wilson’s programs to live for. That is until Raffray please visit www.jumpstartyourmeet- W ing.com. September 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 2 http://www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com http://www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008

Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 Contents Executive Corner 2008 Salary Survey Results Strengthening Worker Safety in a High Throughput Laundry Frugal Housekeeper How CIMS Relates to You Feature Article The Green Scene The Un-Comfort Zone: What's Pushing Your Buttons? Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers’ Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008

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