Do you ever wonder if your boss, your friends, your family, or your coworkers really understand just how much effort you put into things?  Doesn’t it seem like we just work and work and work…and stress and stress and stress to do our best?  For what?  Do people really care?

Here’s my take…

What if we stopped doing all those little things? Think of the negative impact that would have on our bosses, friends, family, coworkers, etc.  The truth is sometimes the things that seem like menial tasks to us, mean the most to other people…yet we never really know how much we impact them.  So I say keep doing the little things.

If you’re a salesperson, keep taking that extra 30 minutes to think about how to ask the right questions in the right way to the appropriate people at your client companies.  That just might be the difference in closing the business or losing the business.

If you’re a schoolteacher, keep going in early to brush up your lesson plans for the day.  That just might be the extra attention to detail that leads to the magical “breakthrough moment” for a student that is struggling.

If you’re an event planner, keep going in on your days off for that one to three hours to make sure the event goes off without any problems.  That extra step might just be the reason you’re able to make someone’s party, event, or meeting one of the most magical and memorable days of their life.

If you lead a team, keep spending quality time with each individual team member.  Keep asking them what they’re enjoying about their experience at work, what they would like to change, and how you can help them achieve their next goal.  Those conversations with you might just be what keeps them getting out of bed each morning…your time spent talking with them may seem menial to you, but it may very well mean the world to them.

If you’re currently between jobs at the moment, keep sending those hand-written thank you cards to companies that granted you the interview.  Keep praying.  Keep serving.  Keep getting after it everyday.  That positive attitude will ultimately be what somebody somewhere will see in you, which will lead to those magical words – YOU’RE HIRED.  (I’ve been unemployed twice in the past 12 months…I get it.  Just keep going OneMoreStep…keep doing the little things.)

Three weeks ago I randomly had lunch in the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas employee dining room with one of the Marketing executive administrative assistants.  I had only talked to this woman once before…ever…and even then our interaction was nothing more than me looking to score a quick notepad and ink pen on my first week of work.

As our lunch conversation progressed, we were truly beginning to enjoy each other’s company.  She told me all about how she and her husband had moved to Vegas from the east coast, and that they lived in a master planned, age 55 and over community on a golf course, which they totally love.  I of course asked more about the golf course, what hole they lived on, what it’s like living on the course, etc.  She went on to tell me how they have hundreds of golf balls in their garage because so many people hit them into their backyard.

I made a few joking comments about how I’m “that guy” that would hit balls into her yard because I’m not a very good golfer, and I always lose balls that way.  I asked her if she and her husband used all the golf balls they find in the yard…she said they really just sit there in the garage…and we left it at that.

One of the Supervisors on my team loves the color – Purple; which is fitting because the Cosmopolitan logo and much of our branding is in fact purple.  She has purple nail polish, a purple purse, a purple cell phone, a purple hair clip, purple rings…she just loves purple.  She also loves M&M’s, and makes that known to our staff.  The team has quickly learned that they can bribe her with M&M’s to get those special scheduling requests magically approved, etc.

This particular Supervisor truly does great work, and is very well liked by all of our staff.  The team wanted to do something to show her how much they appreciate her and how much they love her as their Supervisor.