Last week, I was having a pretty bad week at work. I know, even companies that aspire to be one of the top ten places to work have their off weeks.

But I had to call the winner of our recent spring cleaning promotion – you know – the one who got to pick between a housecleaning service, carpet cleaning service or a gutter cleaning service? So I spoke with the winner, Barbara Stehr. She told me that she had gotten a HELOC because she wanted to do a few upgrades to her home and wanted to help her children buy their first house.

Talking to her helped my outlook immensely. Even when office politics get a little rough, I like the fact that I can go home at the end of the day and say, ‘my company helped someone live a better life.’ There is a lot to be said about that.

Then I had to call Holly at Hollys Housekeeping and let her know that Barbara chose the carpet cleaning and not the housecleaning. Again, Holly is a great example of someone we have helped along the way. Holly is an admirable business owner who is doing a great job.

When you can look at your job with that kind of perspective, it makes the day to day annoyances seem much less important. I like that we do good things.