The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All by Jon Gordon

Author:Jon Gordon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781118915257
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-05-22T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The Sandwich

After a productive day of measuring, sawing, sanding, and building, the carpenter went to the burrito shop to meet potential clients who wanted to hire him, while Michael drove his daughter to basketball practice. Sarah had given him the okay to help the other coaches, but he wasn’t allowed to lead the practice or yell.

On the way, Michael thought about the first and greatest coach he ever had, his mother. He remembered visiting her seven years ago and taking a walk together. She was a walking machine who walked for miles every day, but on this day she seemed very tired. Michael tried to convince her to turn around but she wouldn’t listen. She wanted to walk with him to the grocery store so they could get ingredients for her to make him a sandwich for his five-hour drive home. They made it to the grocery store, but on the way back she grew more and more tired. When they got back to her place, Michael told her to go rest and take a nap, but she wouldn’t. She walked right into the kitchen and made him a sandwich.

On his way home he ate that sandwich but didn’t think much about it at the time. Now seven years later, he thought about that sandwich in a whole new way. On that day his mom was dying from cancer but hadn’t told him how bad it was. She took a quick turn for the worse and that was the last time he saw her alive. Here she was, battling cancer, and her biggest priority was to make him a sandwich.

She not only encouraged him and pushed him to be his best but she modeled the ultimate act of love and service for him. She put him first when she should have put herself first. He knew his mom would run into a burning building to save him, and she was the reason why he would run into the ocean to save an elderly woman at the beach. She was a great coach who taught him to love and serve. As he looked out the window and thought about the sandwich, he realized that serving isn’t always about big sacrifices and huge acts of service. It’s about doing little things each day to show people you love and care about them. It’s about doing small acts with a big heart and a big dose of love.

That night at practice Michael focused on loving and serving his daughter’s teammates. He focused on helping them get better. He stopped thinking about winning and beating the other team and started building each girl up with positive words of encouragement and simple tips to help them get better.

He didn’t yell once and even his daughter commented that it was the best practice of the year. He was beginning to understand The Way. Now he just had to figure out how to do this with his company, because they were drowning and needed someone to save them.

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