July is a good time for mid year reflection. I find that cleaning my own home is an excellent starting point for this. There is something healing about changing pace from the fast demands of the world and retreating into myself to give my own home a good cleaning. Not only does cleaning produce better health for everyone, but it creates serenity and peacefulness in my environment…as opposed to the chaos of everyday realty. It creates serenity and peace of mind. (a bonus we can explain to employees!)
Why do the public areas of large institutions, public or private, pay such attention to the physical appearance of their public face? The entrance areas cost a fortune to produce and more to keep immaculate. We enter them and feel the immediate calm. It is amazingly sustaining for us as humans to have order and beauty. It speaks to us of safety and security and serenity. It is the same with our homes…only harder to master than a lobby in a building. After all we are not just passing through …we are living there. The service we offer to the world is a very intimate thing, causing innumerable challenges that we as owners struggle through daily. Many people outside of our industry couldn’t believe what comes through our desks. Most of us do it well or we wouldn’t be here, but it is not easy. Cleaning my home myself, when no one else is there, if possible, reignites my pride in what I do, what we do, and helps me stay in touch with the importance of our work.
Cleaning for myself also helps me teach, correct, supply, understand and lead. I don’t suggest we all clean our own homes. I only want to share with you my feelings about our fledgling industry and the pride we need to be feeling in the services we offer. We are not just cleaners, we are some of the most important hinge-pins of our culture. And when we do it well and professionally everyone benefits. That’s why it is so important to grow this industry professionally. There are so many niches we can fill. We are the silent creators of peace and calm helping the world to be able to function better. We make space for thinking, for relaxing, for engaging one another in healthy pursuits. We make arriving home the sigh of relief it is meant to be. I am so proud of each of you who were brave enough to stand up and be an owner of a cleaning company, stay with it, join ARCSI to learn and grow your skills, and to care about doing it to the best of your ability.
Thank You. My hat’s off to you. You are AMAZING people!!
