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

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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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi folks.
Well, I'm back again the oldjarhead where I tend to ramble
on about something that Iguarantee it's going to help
your career, no matter what.
Okay, I mean, you may have agreat 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 goingto have a good one, just because

(00:25):
there's a lot of work on yourpart.
But if you do what I tell you,it'll be a better one.
So you're ready to get goingabout today yeah, this week's
podcast.
So Sunday in America is mother'sday, where we celebrate our
mothers, and, in keeping withthat theme, I thought I'd tell
you about what I learned from mydear old mother and how those

(00:50):
lessons could relate to yourcareer.
So my mother was a lovingmother, but also a no-nonsense
person, and she could be toughso tough that my father, a World
War II Marine Corps veteran,used to call her Sarge, a
nickname that stuck that even mybrother and I started using as

(01:12):
we grew older.
So here's three lessons thatshe taught me that I think will
help you, and what they mean.
Well, first was cooking for thefamily.
All right, yep, cooking for thefamily.
Well, we always ate well, notexpensive food, but whatever she
cooked was great and we ate itand a lot of it.
We usually had the same thingsevery week and that included

(01:35):
pork chops, my favoritespaghetti, and either sausage or
meatballs, fried fish, alwayson a Friday right On special
days we might have our homemadelasagna or eggplant parmesan
Dinner.
Always included a small saladand some vegetable which, during
the summer, came from our smallgarden that my grandfather kept

(01:56):
.
The lesson here is that youdon't have to be a super chef or
have a big grocery budget tocook well.
It does take some thought andorganization and accepting of a
routine like fish every Friday.
That same thing applies to yourcareer.
You don't have to be asuperstar, the CEO, to make a

(02:17):
difference.
You have to try and it helpsimmensely to be organized, which
is related to the second lessonfrom my mother.
Okay, the second lesson is howimportant organization is to
success.
So, growing up, we had a verylarge, extended family and that

(02:39):
meant 13 aunts and uncles andwell over 20 cousins in the area
, and my mother would entertainthem all.
Sometimes over 30 people wouldbe at our house, and that house
kitchen, dining and living areascombined was only about 600
square feet and Sarge would putout a spread like no other Lots

(03:00):
of great food, multiple dishes,a lot of Italian and Polish
foods, and not a bad dish in thebunch.
How did she do it, you ask theold jarhead, I can hear you
asking right now by beingorganized.
Now, remember this is beforecomputers and apps with one oven

(03:22):
, for all of our organizationwas done with a pen and paper,
cooking on one oven, four gasburners and a cooking area
itself.
That was about 20 square feet.
Okay, she would decide on amenu first step, then a grocery
list next, and then on the orderthat things would be cooked, so

(03:43):
that something that would beserved cold, for example, would
be cooked.
On the order that things wouldbe cooked so that something that
would be served cold, forexample, would be cooked on the
day before, and she would decideon what tasks that need to be
done and who in the family woulddo them.
And then she would task my dadand my brother and I, and she
didn't worry If someone didn'tlike something.
Well, that was too bad for them.

(04:04):
If you're not very organizednow, try to improve that aspect

(04:27):
of your professional life.
It's much easier today thanwhen Sarge did it now with all
the electronic calendars andtasking apps.
So experiment and use whatworks best for you, and keep in
mind what the great Chinesestrategist said to lead, 10,000
is the same as 10.

(04:48):
It is a matter of organization.
Finally, and I think this is themost important lesson my mother
taught me and that applies toyou as well, and that is don't
whine, don't complain.
I mentioned that my mother wastough and no-nonsense person.

(05:08):
She had a tough childhood.
Her mother died in front of herwhen she was 12, and from that
time forward, she was consideredthe woman of the house, a very
traditional Italian household.
So she had duties.
Normally, that would have beenher mother's, and that included,
in many ways, caring for herfather and three older brothers.
So she had a no-nonsense wayabout her.

(05:29):
She was loving but tough.
When we were sick, she would dowhat she could in terms of
things like medicine, but thenshe would say suffer in silence.
The lesson here is that ifwhining about the situation
won't help, then simply don't doit, and that applies to your
career as well.
There's always bad situationsthat are going to happen at work

(05:50):
.
If that is the case, eithertackle the problem and fix it or
learn to live with it, becausewhining is not going to help.
It'll just make you look wellweak, and I can tell you that
this piece of advice served mewell in my beloved Marine Corps.
So there was always somethingthat a weak person could whine
about, like having to sleep inthe ground on the rain.

(06:12):
So again, don't whine aboutproblems.
Either fix them or learn tolive with them.
Well, that's enough today.
That's all you're going to getfrom the old jarhead.
Thanks for letting me rambleabout my mother and what she
taught me and how it relates toyour career.
Thank you for listening.
Tune in again and tell yourfriends Bye.
Thank you, thank you.