A lesson from Grandpa: get stuff done

Tuesday was my grandfather Mike Petro’s 87th birthday. I called him up and as usual, had a great chat with him. He’s just a happy guy. He’s been retired for over 30 years, but he hasn’t stopped doing stuff and he loves every minute of it. When I called him in the afternoon, he’d already been to daily mass with my grandmother. He followed that up with a couple hours of helping to pull weeds in the church flowerbeds with the Muscle Club, a group of guys who help out with maintenance and upkeep at the church. Keep in mind that my grandparents live in eastern Ohio, which can get pretty humid in the summer, and the high temperature was 91° F.

87 years old and still getting stuff done. At that age, my grandpa is completely entitled to sit on his ass and let the “young kids” take care of things. He’s done plenty of work in his life. Why does he keep volunteering at church, helping out when he’d be justified in taking it easy?

Here’s why: he gets stuff done. It’s what he does, because he learned that’s how you make both big and small things happen. He’s lived through the greatest economic depression this country has ever seen and the greatest war humanity has ever waged. He started hauling 50 lb. bags of flour in a bakery at 14 and then spent 30 years maintaining steel mill equipment. Along the way he’s managed to stay married for 65 years and raise four kids. You don’t do that by slacking off and letting someone else do all the work.

In this age, we have people telling us catchy stuff. Things like being a linchpin of our tribe and crushing it. Grandpa had FDR and Uncle Sam telling him that America needed him to work hard and make sacrifices.

Forget the personalities and slogans. Here’s my lesson from Mike Petro: if you really want to make things happen, just get stuff done.