A respected leader once expressed,
I’m not above washing dishes. I don’t believe that any job is too small because these things NEED to happen for the team. I used to pick up phone lines… I held the title of administrative assistant once… I’m not above this, because these jobs are necessary for progress. This is what I had to do to get here and I would never ask anyone to do anything I didn’t understand.
It’s so arrogant… how I used to think—that I would be SO QUICK to judge certain jobs such as working in fast food, discount stores, etc. Raised from the shanty villages and farmlands of the Philippines, I have absolutely no reason to be arrogant. But a lot of people think this way… honestly. I’m sorry that I didn’t give people enough credit.
Growing up independently, trying to survive as a dancer, and fend for myself has really given me a slap in the face. This “starving artist” life has shown me how ungiving the REAL world is and that before we have anything to be proud of, we need to humble ourselves first.
Ideally, we’d like to do only that which we dream, but we can’t just jump to our dream job without finding ourselves doing not-so-glamorous things first. For anyone to think otherwise is to have really high expectations above what life is REALLY like. Sometimes in order to pursue your dream, you’ll find yourself in very humbling positions, and this I believe is necessary to understand what it really takes to survive… to be accountable for your own life and face your real-life responsibilities while pursuing your fantasy. I’ve seen that dreams are attainable, but “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” There’s no skipping the length of hardship in between.
To learn humility is quite a difficult experience, but I’ve seen it to be the spine of many great and respectful leaders. I’m constantly praying to trust this more and learn progress through the hard choices life calls me to make.
