Are you miserable in your day to day job routine or work efforts?
Do you feel unfulfilled in your position? Do you wish you had more time & more money and a better quality of life?
Let me share with you a Tale of Two Hamsters…
Fred, gets up every morning. He stretches his little hamster arms, eats his hamster kibble, drinks from his hamster water bottle and goes to work at Hamster Electric company. His job – running the wheel.
Around and around and around he goes. He works 5 days a week and every day is the same. He gets up and runs on his hamster wheel.
One sunny Weds. afternoon, Fred gets a call from his boss, “Fred, you’re doing a great job, but electric rates have gone up, we need you to run faster.” “OK!” Says Fred. So he runs faster and faster. He’s working later and sometimes has to come in on the weekends in order to meet his quota of how much time he runs on his wheel.
On a gloomy Thursday afternoon, Fred’s boss calls him and says, Fred, I’ve got some bad news, we’ve had to lay off 300 hamsters and you’re not one of them, but I’m going to have to pay you less than you’re getting now and I need you to work even harder.
“Right” responds a tired Fred.
Fred gets on his hamster wheel and starts going even faster. He’s running faster than he ever ran before. He’s really tired, really stressed out, but he thinks of his Hamster wife and his 8 hamster kids and their college tuitions and he knows, he’s got to keep running.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sad to say, Fred died of a heart attack. He was running, running, running so hard, the constant stress, the lack of quality time with his family – his little heart just couldn’t take it any more.
On the other side of town, lived Harry.
Harry worked for the same Hamster Electric Co. and in the same position as Fred. But Harry was different. Harry was a member of Toastmasters for Hamsters and Harry was learning to have more Self Confidence. Harry wanted more for himself than just running a wheel. Harry picked up the book, Laws of Success by Napoleon Hill and read the chapter on Imagination. He learned that with a little creativity, he could learn how to do his job more efficiently which meant he could put forth less effort, yet get more results and have a better quality of life.
Harry figured out a way to make his wheel spin around with the use of his water bottle. Harry figured out that he could use water to power his wheel and that he could recycle the water using a pump so it would pour out onto his wheel, fall into a pan and then be pumped back up into his water bottle.
Harry worked every day, from 9-5, but instead of running on his wheel, he’d read the newspaper, chat with his hamster friends on Facebook and enjoy long, leisurely lunches.
One day, Harry’s boss calls him and says, “Harry, we need you do to more – more running on that wheel.” “OK Boss,” says Harry. And what does Harry do? He figures out how to add solar power to his wheel, making it go even faster.
Harry’s wheel now is spinning really fast. One gloomy Thurs. afternoon, while reading the newspaper, Harry gets a call from his Boss, “Harry, we had to lay off 300 Hamsters, we need you to generate even more power!” “OK Boss, you got it!” Harry enthusiastically replies.
What does Harry do? He adds a second a wheel, more solar panels then heads off to the golf course.
Harry starts selling his ideas and his inventions to other hamsters. He becomes so successful, he quits the Hamster Electric Company and starts his own company called “Free Wheeling Electric Company.” The original Hamster Electric company offers to buy Harry’s company for millions of dollars. Harry sells, takes his millions and starts an LED light bulb company so he can help save electricity and impact the world with energy savings.
What can we learn from a Tale of Two Hamsters?
Regardless of what situation you are in, regardless of your circumstances, you always have your imagination – the single most powerful tool that will change your life.
Use your imagination to find a better way to do your job. How can you increase productivity, how can you add more value to what you do? What can you do differently that no one else is doing? How can you service customers in a way that your competition isn’t?
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