There was a young worker at a company who was in his first week at the office. When “quitting time” happened around 5pm on his first day, the young employee was surprised to see all the men rush to clock out and leave the building.

The young man just continued working, unmoved by the sudden action of his coworkers. About 2 minutes later, the head supervisor walked out, apparently looking for something. The young worker asked if he could be of assistance.

“Ah, yes — I need a pencil.”

The young worker pulled two #2 pencils out of his drawer, walked over to the pencil sharpener and sharpened both pencils to neat points. He handed them to his boss, who thanked the worker and went back into his office.

It wasn’t long before the young worker was holding down the #2 position in the company.

In the photo above, the guy in the shades is known as Puff Daddy (or Diddy). The other two guys in white and the guy on the left in the yellow form rap group The LOX. The LOX were part of the new wave of artists signed to Puffy’s Bad Boy Records in the late 90s after the untimely death of Notorious B.I.G.

The LOX released a platinum-selling (over 1 million copies sold) album with Bad Boy before moving on to other labels. I heard and interview they did, though, where they were asked about their time with Bad Boy.

LOX member Styles recalled one late night at the studio when the group was set to go home for the evening and get some rest. Puffy noticed the rappers heading for the door and posed a few rhetorical questions.

“Y’all leaving?

“Y’all sold more records than me?

“Y’all got more money than me?

“And y’all LEAVING?!?!”

For Your Game
When you’re the new and/or unproven person in the room, never let the boss get there before you or leave after you. Even if it’s merely symbolic, you want your first-here and last-here presence burned into the minds of everyone in that building. It builds your reputation.
There are myriad proven health benefits that come with getting ample sleep on a consistent basis. But sometimes, logic gets pushed aside when it’s time to win or prove a point. This is not the behavior of a reasonable, well-adjusted person. Chalk this up to male testosterone and competitive wiring.
There are more strategies, tips and hacks out there for productivity and doing the most important work and doing more work in less time than we have time to consume. But this fact remains: Plain hard work and putting the time in still matter. When you’re good — maximize that goodness. When you’re bad or still learning — you need reps. For that, we have 30 Days To Discipline.

Where do you still need to prove yourself by (maybe metaphorically) arriving early and staying late? What will it prove? Reply and share with me.

#WorkOnYourGame