Things My Mother Taught Me and How They Can Help Your Career

Dennis is a Marine veteran and former corporate executive who shares valuable career advice. He guarantees that following his advice will lead to a better career

• In honor of Mother's Day, he reflects on lessons learned from his mother and how they relate to career success.

• Lesson 1: Cooking - You don't have to be a master chef or have a big budget to eat well, just be organized and stick to a routine.

• Lesson 2: Organization - His mother was able to host large family gatherings with only one oven and pen and paper organization skills; use electronic tools available now for even more efficient organization.

• Lesson 3: Don't whine - His tough mother taught him not to complain about tough situations; either solve the problem or learn to live with it.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Hi folks . Well , I'm back again the old jarhead where I tend to ramble on about something that I guarantee it's going to help your career , no matter what . Okay , I mean , you may have a great career , but I guarantee if you listen to what I tell you , you're going to have a better one . Okay , I guarantee you're going to have a good one , just because there's a lot of work on your part . But if you do what I tell you , it'll be a better one . So you're ready to get going about today yeah , this week's podcast .

Speaker 1 0:36

So Sunday in America is mother's day , where we celebrate our mothers , and , in keeping with that theme , I thought I'd tell you about what I learned from my dear old mother and how those lessons could relate to your career . So my mother was a loving mother , but also a no-nonsense person , and she could be tough so tough that my father , a World War II Marine Corps veteran , used to call her Sarge , a nickname that stuck that even my brother and I started using as we grew older . So here's three lessons that she taught me that I think will help you , and what they mean . Well , first was cooking for the family . All right , yep , cooking for the family . Well , we always ate well , not expensive food , but whatever she cooked was great and we ate it and a lot of it . We usually had the same things every week and that included pork chops , my favorite spaghetti , and either sausage or meatballs , fried fish , always on a Friday right On special days we might have our homemade lasagna or eggplant parmesan Dinner . Always included a small salad and some vegetable which , during the summer , came from our small garden that my grandfather kept . The lesson here is that you don't have to be a super chef or have a big grocery budget to cook well . It does take some thought and organization and accepting of a routine like fish every Friday . That same thing applies to your career . You don't have to be a superstar , the CEO , to make a difference . You have to try and it helps immensely to be organized , which is related to the second lesson from my mother . Okay , the second lesson is how important organization is to success .

Speaker 1 2:35

So , growing up , we had a very large , extended family and that meant 13 aunts and uncles and well over 20 cousins in the area , and my mother would entertain them all . Sometimes over 30 people would be at our house , and that house kitchen , dining and living areas combined was only about 600 square feet and Sarge would put out a spread like no other Lots of great food , multiple dishes , a lot of Italian and Polish foods , and not a bad dish in the bunch . How did she do it , you ask the old jarhead , I can hear you asking right now by being organized . Now , remember this is before computers and apps with one oven , for all of our organization was done with a pen and paper , cooking on one oven , four gas burners and a cooking area itself . That was about 20 square feet . Okay , she would decide on a menu first step , then a grocery list next , and then on the order that things would be cooked , so that something that would be served cold , for example , would be cooked . On the order that things would be cooked so that something that would be served cold , for example , would be cooked on the day before , and she would decide on what tasks that need to be done and who in the family would do them . And then she would task my dad and my brother and I , and she didn't worry If someone didn't like something . Well , that was too bad for them . If you're not very organized now , try to improve that aspect of your professional life . It's much easier today than when Sarge did it now with all the electronic calendars and tasking apps . So experiment and use what works best for you , and keep in mind what the great Chinese strategist said to lead , 10,000 is the same as 10 . It is a matter of organization .

Speaker 1 4:52

Finally , and I think this is the most important lesson my mother taught me and that applies to you as well , and that is don't whine , don't complain . I mentioned that my mother was tough and no-nonsense person . She had a tough childhood . Her mother died in front of her when she was 12 , and from that time forward , she was considered the woman of the house , a very traditional Italian household . So she had duties . Normally , that would have been her mother's , and that included , in many ways , caring for her father and three older brothers . So she had a no-nonsense way about her . She was loving but tough . When we were sick , she would do what she could in terms of things like medicine , but then she would say suffer in silence .

Speaker 1 5:39

The lesson here is that if whining about the situation won't help , then simply don't do it , and that applies to your career as well . There's always bad situations that are going to happen at work . If that is the case , either tackle the problem and fix it or learn to live with it , because whining is not going to help . It'll just make you look well weak , and I can tell you that this piece of advice served me well in my beloved Marine Corps . So there was always something that a weak person could whine about , like having to sleep in the ground on the rain . So again , don't whine about problems . Either fix them or learn to live with them . Well , that's enough today . That's all you're going to get from the old jarhead . Thanks for letting me ramble about my mother and what she taught me and how it relates to your career . Thank you for listening . Tune in again and tell your friends Bye . Thank you , thank you .