Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Michael Gates Gill, former creative director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising and currently an employee at a Starbucks in Bronxville, New York. He is author of How Starbucks Saved My Life (Gotham)
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Fourteen years ago, at age 53, Michael Gates Gill was at the top of his game — he had a lovely wife, an expensive home and a $160,000-a-year job in advertising.
By age 63, he was divorced, unemployed and nearly broke — then his doctor informed him that he had a slow-growing brain tumor.
In desperate need of health insurance and a regular paycheck, Gill took an entry-level job serving coffee at Starbucks for $10.50 an hour. To his amazement, he loved the work. Four years later, Gill no longer needs the health insurance — he now is old enough to qualify for Medicare.
He also has sold his life story to Hollywood (Tom Hanks is expected to portray Gill in the film), but he plans to remain at Starbucks — he enjoys the job.
He has chosen “watchful waiting” as the treatment option for his brain tumor.
Bottom Line/Personal asked Gill to share what recent years have taught him about life…
Your own expectations can constrain you. In my earlier life, I defined myself by my career and social status — I was an affluent, Yale-educated ad executive.
When I lost my job in advertising, I was certain that the solution to my problems lay in landing a new job in advertising or, if not that, a new client to get my own advertising consulting business on its feet.
My mental image of myself prevented me from considering opportunities that did not fit that picture.
I could not see myself in a service-sector job wearing an apron and a baseball cap — even though Starbucks’ generous health insurance plan offered a solution to my most immediate problem.
It took an outside force to break me out of this box. I was in my local Starbucks when, out of the blue, a manager asked me if I needed a job — it turns out that the Starbucks I had entered was having a “Hiring Open House.”
You may not know your true priorities. I spent most of my adult life chasing bigger paychecks, loftier job titles and flashier possessions.
These were my goals not because I chose them, but because I never considered that any other goals existed. My friends and family seemed to want these things, and I assumed that I wanted them, too.
When I accepted the job at Starbucks, it struck me that I probably would never again have money, titles or expensive possessions — yet one evening at Starbucks, I realized that I was as happy as I had ever been in my life.
This “low-level” job gave me supportive bosses and coworkers, lots of human interaction and enough money to live a simple life.
These were my real priorities, and I had never even known it. Instead, I had wasted most of my life pursuing other people’s goals.
Perhaps I could have discovered my true priorities long ago if I had listened to my heart, rather than allowing myself to get swept along in what those around me were doing.
Trust the universe. I thought of myself as a master of the universe when I was young and successful. Only later did I discover that no person is a master of the universe, and it is foolish even to aspire to be one.
Trying to master the universe means struggling against the tide of events, which rarely works. When the universe pushed me out of the executive suite, I tried to take charge and reclaim the life I had had previously.
I did not find happiness again until I stopped fighting the tide and started swimming with it to see where it led.
Any task can be worthwhile if it involves serving others. I had considered serving coffee an unimportant job — until I figured out that my job was not really serving coffee at all.
It was serving my customers and my coworkers. I might not be curing cancer, but I am doing my best to make life a little better for anyone who steps through the Starbucks’ door.
There are few feelings as wonderful as the feeling you get when you help someone feel better.
Having money only creates a desire for more money. I earned a lot in my previous career, yet I was always in debt and worried about finances.
Today I no longer have a car, a big house, stylish furniture or $2,000 suits… and I do not miss my former possessions in the least.
I can’t even remember why I thought they were important. Living without luxuries doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.
I love my cozy apartment. I love that I can go for a walk or sit at home reading a book and not feel that I should be out at a business event or an expensive restaurant.
The best jobs are those that keep you in the moment. Much of my 26 years in advertising was wasted in meetings. Many times we had meetings to prepare for other meetings. We were living not for the moment but always in the future.
Only when I started working behind a counter did I discover the joy of work that keeps you in the here and now.
There are no long-term projects in my new career. When I prepare a cup of coffee, I don’t worry about past mistakes or future challenges.
I just do what I am doing right now to the best of my abilities, and I immediately see the results of what I have done. That is a wonderfully gratifying way to live.
Most people work long hours and think about their jobs even when they are home. When I worked in advertising, a boss once ordered me to fly to Detroit on Christmas while my young children were still opening their presents. I went.
I love the fact that now when I leave work for the day, I do not think about my job again until my next shift. That is what a job should be — a relatively small part of life.
True, jobs that offer lots of free time are unlikely to be very lucrative — but the free time they provide can lead to even greater financial success.
I used some of my free time to write a book that will soon become a movie. If I were still a “successful” executive, I never could have found the time to write.
The only job that’s beneath you is one that you do not give your full effort to.
I no longer consider it degrading to clean the toilets in a coffee shop bathroom. What would be degrading would be cleaning them poorly. Doing a task well — any task — is a source of self-respect.
It is natural to fear change, but things are rarely as bad as we fear. When we’re faced with change, we worry that we will not be able to adapt or that we will not enjoy our new situation.
I was scared of taking a job at Starbucks… scared that I wouldn’t get along with coworkers half my age… scared when I was put in charge of a cash register, because I have never been very good with money.
Each time, I was scared before the change occurred — yet once it did, it was never as bad as I had feared. Sometimes we just have to take that leap into a completely unfamiliar situation and expect that we will rise to the challenge.
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I had an online discussion with someone on this topic. It is herein:
December 12th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Phiby:
That story is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read.
I can see the movie sponsored by Starbucks. Like the UPS one made by the actor who will play any part for the buck.
Gill is still in advertising. He took the job hoping for that big pay off and he got it in the form of a bonus from Starbucks for bringing in the customers and for getting cheap labor for Starbucks.
Oh, and of course, he will take the money for the movie rights.
Can you see that playing as the story for the children of the wealthy? No, but it will do for the children of the middle class. They should be satisfied serving the rich and successful.
What a crock! There is nothing wrong working for a fast food enterprise. I work for one. I have for 9 years and I enjoy my work.
But it is not the job, I encouraged my children to look forward to. I encourage the to seek higher education to enlarge their possibilities.
Sorry, didn’t mean to rant. Just had to get that off my mind.
Philby
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December 12th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Doug:
Philby, it sounds as though you might have a screenplay in the works or complete that you are having a hard time getting signed. Perhaps, you might trade a brain tumor for your desired success…somewhere, it sounds as though you missed the message.
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December 12th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Philby:
Doug:
Okay, maybe I did miss the message. So could you please tell me in simpler terms than that slop what was his message?
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December 12th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Doug:
Philby,
First, there are many movies with which Starbucks pays for product placement. That is simple capitalism and corporate advertising in today’s economic environment. That is the decision of the corporation and not the one suffering a job loss and brain tumor.
What most people don’t understand is that EVERYONE is ALWAYS and consistently in advertising within their own lives everyday. They get dressed to look a certain way, people pick a certain car, pick a certain college, pick a certain neighborhood, people pick on job over another, people even pick one friend over another, etc. in order to advertise themselves as a certain person that they wish others to perceive them to be. It is human nature, and has nothing to do with having a brain tumor or losing a job.
I am friends with a woman who had a death sentence read to her due to breast cancer. She chose to take a more holistic approach to her healing after spending $250,000 for western doctors that did not make her any better. She is now alive and well. She wrote a book on the subject. Her intention was not to make millions from her book, as most authors rarely make a lot of money, but to help as many others who might learn from her plight. Due to the courage of her plight and the message that the book holds she is getting a new life and her book is being well received. In fact, I will plug it herein, (as I will be interviewing her for a Documentary I am producing)
Her name is Ani Kaspar and the book is “Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies”
http://www.amazon.com/Pelicans-Coconuts-Butterflies-Conquering-Cancer/dp/1890427942
I don’t think Gill took the job at Starbucks hoping for that big pay off, as there are no guarantees in anything in life. It was a point of finding purpose in his chaos, and insurance for his condition.
I can assure, you from my own experience in life of reaching a fork in the road, there has been much powerful moments and times of reflection, as people reach points, or an abyss, a bridge or a precipice to which their life will never be the same due to the life changes that have, are or taking place, that the reflection begins to show them what, at their core, to them what life to them is really all about. In our society, in this modern life of capitalism, of do or die, hustle and bustle, to reach the golden egg, what does it all mean? Why?
When going through a life experience that Gill has and is going through, finding solace in service is finding the golden egg. The secret lies in the happiness of life and not in the monetary success. Although, corny as it is, you cannot take it with you. Life is not the amount of breaths you take, but the breaths that take you away.
It is good that you enjoy your work. The message of Gill is not to settle and work for a Starbuck or McDonald’s, there is nothing wrong with this, however, if you do and you find solace, peace and happiness in that chosen job, then enjoy the process and time spent there. If you move on and move up, fine, enjoy that too.
It is not the mastery of capitalism that holds the secret to life. It is not the mastery of the art of making money, although that seems to be what our society tries to teach each new generation. So you have a Bentley, so you have a home on Lago di Como (Lake Como), in Beverly Hills, and Manhattan, it is still a building with a roof and a pile of steel with tires. Albeit, very high quality, but so what. Anyone would enjoy that, but it is only a roof over your head and a car that goes from here to there. You still need a plumber, you still need a mechanic…
Life is the mastery of the self. The peace within the self and the understanding of one’s own purpose on this pale blue dot or within the infinite of this thing we call life.
On another lesson that life gave me was once I was on a plane trip once from TX to CA, when at 35K feet the pilot purposefully put the plane into a free fall dive due to a cabin door opening. It was chaos and mayhem inside the cabin of the DC10. Everyone thought they were going to die. It was at that moment, for me, that I chose not to leave this place in a state of chaos, in a state of sorrow or panic. I turned and assisted others in their scared, and chaotic state to help them with their oxygen masks. I then sat in my seat and calmly put on my mask. I then proceeded to meditate to a point of calm and acceptance. We were falling, things were falling from the storage units above, people’s ears were blowing, there was screaming…it was not an easy situation. However, there are moments, those bridges, those points of being at the abyss, at the precipice where you find secrets within the Universe that help you see, and feel what life is truly about.
This, the 312th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
c)Copyright 2010 Doug Boggs
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