You are Worth The Effort !
It was a stormy night many years ago when an elderly couple entered the
hotel lobby on the outskirts of a mountain resort area and asked for a
room.
“I’m very sorry,” responded the night clerk. “We’re completely full and so
are all the other hotels in the area, but I can’t imagine sending you out
into the storm again. Why don’t you stay in my room?” the young man offered
with a smile. “It may not be a luxury suite, but it’s clean. I need to
finish my bookkeeping here in the office.”
The distinguished-looking man and woman seemed uncomfortable, but they
graciously accepted his offer. When the gentleman went to pay the bill the
next morning, the clerk was still at the desk and said, “Oh, I live here
full time, so there’s no charge for the room. You don’t need to worry about
that.”
The older man nodded and said to the clerk, “You’re the kind of person that
every hotel owner dreams about having as a staff member. Maybe someday I’ll
build a hotel for you.” The hotel clerk was flattered, but the idea sounded
so outrageous that he was sure the man was joking.
A few years passed and the hotel clerk was still at the same job. One day
he received a registered letter from the man. The letter expressed his
vivid recollections of that stormy night, along with an invitation and a
round-trip ticket for the hotel clerk to visit him in New York. Arriving a
few days later in Manhattan, the clerk was met by the distinguished
gentleman at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, where a
magnificent, new building stood.
“That,” exclaimed the man, “is the hotel I’ve built for you to run! I told
you at the time that it might happen and today you can see that I was
serious.”
The clerk was stunned. “What’s the catch? Why me? Who are you anyway?” he
stammered. “My name is William Waldorf Astor. And there is no catch. You
are the person I want managing this property for me.”
That hotel was the original Waldorf Astoria, and the name of the young
clerk who accepted the first managerial position was George C. Boldt.
This is a true story, and there’s a personal message in it for us. Why do
we need a benefactor to come along and make us believe in our dreams? How
is it that an outsider can perceive more potential in us than we can
sometimes see in ourselves?
Usually, we hold ourselves back because of a little voice from the child of
our past that recalls foolish mistakes we made or rejections we
experienced. Don’t listen to those doubts and fears.
This week, don’t put your big dreams on layaway. Focus on believing you are
worth the effort.
—Denis Waitley
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