You Have to Listen Closely or You'll Miss It

Normally, I try to stay away from advice that people always seem at the ready to hand out like so much candy on Halloween night.



Throughout the course of my life, I have received a few pieces of advice that I took to heart and cherish to this day.



In 1994 I was 14 years old. My Dad worked at a gasoline and oil bulk plant that also had a full-service gas station and car wash. I was underage, but Dad was able to get a job for me in the service station. I started the job in 1993 when I was only 13 years old, and during my entire tenure there I worked with a dazzling array of interesting characters. One of these characters was a really great guy by name of Craig Petre (pronounced pea-tree.)



Craig was one of those anomalies that can often be found in small town gas stations, greasy spoon diners, and barber shops. He worked a hard job that didn’t pay much, but he was content. He was always content, just pleased to be living the life that he was living, which was a good one. The part that makes people like Craig so amazing is that they are often the ones who impart the greatest wisdom when you least expect it. I never thought Craig wasn't smart. I knew he was, but the following really caught me off guard.



One day Craig and I were loading about twenty-five 55 gallon drums of oil into a truck to be delivered to local farmers later that day. If you’ve never tried it, I don’t mind telling you that these drums are heavy, greasy, and they stink. As usual, I was loading the drums but cutting corners and trying to find an easy way to get the job done while actually doing the least amount of work possible. Great work ethic eh?



Craig could see what I was doing as plain as day, and told me this: “You know Luke, by trying to cut corners and do things the easy way, all you’re doing is creating more work for yourself. Why don’t you just do it the hard way, the way that works, and in the end you’ll end up doing less.”



What he was trying to say was that every time I tried to cut a corner and get away with less work, I ended up screwing something up the first time and in the end had to do it the way he was doing anyway.



I haven’t seen or spoken to Craig Petre since 1995 when I moved out of my home town. Even today, any time I am attempting a task, and I mean EVERY time, and I find myself trying to weasel out of doing something the way it is traditionally done in favor of what I think is an easier way, I think of Craig. It’s been 10 years since he told me that. I was a kid when he said it, and that one small piece of advice has had a lot of influence on the type of man I have grown into. I barely knew this guy and his words have had an incredible effect on my entire life. It’s amazing that we can alter and shape people that we barely know so easily.



So pay attention. Listen closely. You never know when you might be getting a piece of life-altering advice when you least expect it.