Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have an unhealthy obsession with SpongeBob. It's not that I have SpongeBob wallpaper in my room or that I sleep in SpongeBob pajamas (anymore), but if you were to start any quote from the show, I would be able to finish it...and then recite the rest of the episode. I could talk about SpongeBob for pages, but I want to just focus on the quote, “What I learned in boating school is...”

For those of you who aren’t as acquainted with SpongeBob as I am, let me set the scene. SpongeBob is sitting in boating class and must write a seven word essay (a daunting task) on what he learned in boating school, but he can’t think of anything to write. In the episode, he draws a blank on his essay because he is nervous, but I think that there’s another way to look at this.

Having attended boating school myself, I can say with certainty that I couldn’t write seven words about it now if I wanted to -- something about fires on a boat being bad, or whatever, it doesn’t matter. I spent the day in boating school watching the clock and doodling, patiently waiting to get my license and move on with my life. I wasted my day for a piece of plastic with my picture on it. There are so many instances, each day, where we simply go through the motions just to progress through the boring parts of life, but as I’ve learned recently, these are the moments where we can actually grow the most.                

Work is a great place to waste time, but it's also a great time to learn about yourself. No matter where you work, there are always going to be coworkers who can teach you a thing or two. Even that guy who refers to himself as “the prince of darkness” with the quarter sized holes in his ears and the face tattoo has something valuable to contribute to you.               

I’ve worked as a lifeguard for the past three years with a man affectionately known as “Scuba Steve.” He is a 40-something year old man who still spends his summers as a lifeguard for a day camp -- not exactly a guy you would expect to have it all together. But, he does. Believe it or not, Scuba Steve has taught me a lot over the past three years that I don’t think I would have learned otherwise. For instance, he taught me that its much easier to dye a pool green for St. Patrick’s day than you would think, but he has also passed along some really impressive life knowledge.                
Every morning at 11:38 a.m. his phone’s alarm goes off with the sounds of dolphin calls until he walks past his phone to eventually turn it off. There have been days where another lifeguard has sat next to this phone for upwards of 20 minutes, listening to the sound of what I can only assume is the sound of mating dolphins and waiting for Steve to put his password in and shut the dolphins up. This happened to me once and I was more than annoyed until he told me the significance of the alarm. Steve programed his phone so that at 11:38 a.m. and 4:46 a.m. -- yes, the middle of the night, but apparently he sleeps through it -- his alarm will go off. These are the exact times that his daughters were born.      

Let me just remind you, this man has a real job during the rest of the year. That means that he loses out on sleep every night and that his phone interrupts important meetings all the time just so that he will stop and think about his family. It's insane to imagine, but it’s actually the most sane thing ever. Steve has his values in perfect order. Nothing is more important to him than his family, not his own rest and peace, not money, nothing.     

By just paying attention to the people around me at work I learned the most influential lesson of my life: no matter who you are or what you're doing, nothing is more important than the people you love. That’s something you can read about in a book or see in the news, but until you see someone practice it first hand it doesn't really stick with you.      

So, do me a favor. Tomorrow, while you're sitting at work trying to figure out the best way to fake your own death so you can leave early, I want you to open your eyes just a bit wider. Look around and try to experience everything around you for a few minutes and, I promise, you will like what you see.