Motivational Minute (13_006)

Quote of the day:

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” -- George Halas

Consider:

You never know when an opportunity will arrive. I have found that giving your best in every situation is a great way to be prepared for opportunity. You never know when the big break will come, nor in what form it will appear. -The following story so aptly portrays this.

In the city of Philadelphia there was a little third class hotel. One night two tired elderly people arrived at this hotel. They approached the night clerk and the husband pleadingly said, "Mister, please don't tell us you don't have a room. My wife and I have been all over the city looking for a place to stay. We did not know about the big conventions that are in town. The hotels at which we usually stay are all full. We're dead tired and it's after midnight. Please don't tell us you don't have a place where we can sleep."

The clerk looked at them a long moment and then answered, "Well, I don't have a single room except my own. I work at night and sleep in the daytime. It's not as nice as the other rooms, but it's clean, and I'll be happy for you to be my guests for tonight."

The next morning at the breakfast table, the couple sent the waiter to tell the night clerk they wanted to see him on very important business. The night clerk went in, recognized the two people, sat down at the table and said he hoped they had had a good night's sleep. They thanked him most sincerely.

Then the husband astounded the clerk with this statement, "You are too fine a hotel man to stay in a hotel like this. How would you like for me to build a big, beautiful, luxurious hotel in New York city and make you general manager?"

The clerk didn't know what to say. He thought there might be something wrong with their minds. He finally stammered, "It sounds wonderful."

His guest then introduced himself. "I'm John Jacob Astor."

So, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel was built, and the night clerk became, in the years to follow, the best known hotel man in the world. In 1976, the 47story Waldorf-Astoria in New York City served three-quarters of a million guests in its 1,900 rooms all because he was doing his best.