Birthday or Job Day?
John D. Rockefeller is one of the most successful businessmen and philanthropists ever to live. On September 26, 1855, after searching six days a week for six weeks, Rockefeller got his first job, at the age of sixteen. According to Ron Chernow’s biography of Rockefeller, “For the rest of his life, he would honor September 26 as ‘Job Day’ and celebrate it with more genuine brio than his birthday.”
I’m not sure if this is just a millennial thing or if it spans generations, but I've noticed many people celebrate their birthdays like it is as important as discovering the cure for cancer. I have a hard time wrapping my head around this. The level of the celebration always seems to overshadow the level of the accomplishment.
A birthday is a great opportunity to get together with friends and family and have a good time, and the importance should not be minimized. However, I like to ask myself, “Am I celebrating anything else as enthusiastically as I celebrate my birthday? Have I accomplished anything meaningful in the last year that is truly worth celebrating?” Since I have made this practice a habit, the answer is always yes.
If the answer for you is no, finish celebrating your birthday, then sit down and figure out what you want to accomplish and how you are going to do it. Because if the only accomplishment you are celebrating in your life is a birthday, you are significantly selling yourself short.
Frank Blake, the former CEO of Home Depot, told Tim Ferriss, “You get what you celebrate.” Before Blake’s tenure as CEO, Home Depot’s customer service suffered tremendously. Blake championed a program at Home Depot in which store associates were recognized and celebrated for delivering exceptional customer service, and this program helped Home Depot do a complete 180 on the customer service front.
“People should spend time thinking about what they’re recognizing and celebrating,” said Blake. “They should do it intentionally. They should have a process around it. They should do it consistently.”
This philosophy is just as applicable in an individual’s life as it is in the life of a corporation. It is one of the first steps of conscious lifestyle design.
Rockefeller was a young man who understood the value of a career and the significance of a true accomplishment. An accomplishment that was earned through hard work, consistency, discipline, and determination. Blake is a man who knows how to lead and accomplish goals through targeted celebration.
Go ahead and celebrate your birthday, but always be in the pursuit of something that is genuinely and objectively worth celebrating.
