Grok Input:

Life is a grand adventure, and I couldn't be more excited for it! I am loving my role at Winco and I know that I am making a good career move by working with this employee owned organization. We currently have 144 employee owned stores and over 20,000 employee owners of which I am one. That means I am combining the value of my time with the value of the other 20,000 owners to create a better future for all of us. Eventually, I hope to get my christmas ornaments into all of the stores as a way to increase revenue and create an annual collectable that our clients will purchase. The beauty of a Christmas ornament is that it is an annual event, and each year we can come out with a new design. We could use it as a form of a membership subscription. If we can get enough people onboard, we could create a new revenue stream that will drive the company forward faster. One day, I hope to become a part of the board of directors here at Winco, and help make decisions for all of my co-owners for the future of the company. I still have a long way to go before that happens, but every dream starts small and grows with time. As long as I keep my eyes on the destination and work through climbing the ladder at Winco, I know that I am doing my best to accomplish those dreams. Life is a journey, and if you don't give yourself a destination, you will never know how to prioritize and whether or not you are getting closer or farther away from that dream. The beauty of my dream is that it is to work with as many co-owners as possible to provide value for all of us. That is why I do content the way I do it, to drive more people into our stores. I can impact every store with my content, by getting more and more people to shop at Winco. Someday I would like to do a life at winco series where I document what I am doing at Winco and share it with the world. The more people who see that content, the more the Winco name gets out there. I look at Winco as my company, not just the place I work. I can do so much to help my company grow just by being persistent and chasing my dreams. My hope in sharing all of this is that I am putting my goals down in writing, and I am sharing the journey I am on. No-one knows what life will look like in a year, two years, five years, or even ten years, so why worry about it. Instead, build a plan and execute that plan on a ten year timeframe. Most people underestimate how much they can accomplish in ten years, while over estimating what they can do in a year. That's why my goals and journey is always based on a ten year timeframe. I want to be able to give it the time it needs to grow and develop. Does that mean I won't change my goals for ten years? Of course not, my goals will change as life changes, but I know the destination I am working towards and I am doing my best to shorten the amount of time it takes to accomplish those goals. Here is to goal setting and chasing your dreams!

Grok Output:

Hey, Life with Justin Stephens community! Justin here, and life continues to be an adventure. I love working at WinCo for a wide variety of reasons, and wanted to share those today. First, I am feeding America. I am part of a team of 20,000 people who are dedicated to providing the lowest cost goods possible for our fellow citizens. We are constantly looking for ways to decrease our prices and make sure that things are affordable for the people in our community. It is really amazing to be a part of a team that is so focused on affordability and the community. I love people and want to help as many people as I can, and I see working at WinCo as one of the main ways I am helping people through their life. Second, it is an ESOP. That means that every employee at WinCo is earning ownership in the company for the time they spend working there. I am surrounded by people with ownership in the results that we create through doing our jobs well. I can give myself a raise by helping the company do better year after year after year, and while the stock appreciates, so does the amount of ownership I have in it. Third, it is an active job. I am not sitting behind a computer doing mundane tasks; I am out on the sales floor. I am setting up displays and stocking shelves and making sure the product is in the right place for our clients to find. I get to help clients find items and answer questions for them so they can have an easier experience in our store. Fourth, it is a team atmosphere. Everyone there is working together to make it a better experience for each other and our clients. It has the feel of a team working towards a common goal. I love my job at WinCo and am excited to keep learning and growing within the organization.

My recommendation to you is to find a job you love and commit to it. Focus on doing it well and growing within the organization. I am an entrepreneur at heart, but entrepreneurship is not the only path to success. That's why I look at myself as an intrapreneur at WinCo. It already has an extremely solid foundation and is what I have modeled my estate after. Instead of starting from scratch, I am starting from where they are already at. Where this all goes, I have no idea. I feel blessed to have found a home that I am passionate about though. That is what I want for my kids, a career that they are passionate about and can be excited for, and that is what I want for you. If you don't have that yet, don't give up the search and don't give up hope of it becoming a reality. I know that times are hard out there, but it is worth it.

Reflections: Passion and Ownership in Every Shift

Every day at WinCo reinforces that loving your work changes everything. The team spirit, the customer impact, the ESOP ownership—it’s all fuel for the bigger dream of America’s Holding Company.

Why This Matters for Your Journey

Find work that excites you and rewards your effort—in finance (ownership growth), business (team impact), and life (daily fulfillment). Passion + persistence = unstoppable progress.

At Life with Justin Stephens, we share raw Journal Entries like this, alongside Point of View stories, Life Strategy tips, Resources, and Great Causes to inspire your path in finance, business, sales, marketing, and beyond.

Call to Action: Subscribe at justindcstephens.com for daily motivation. Share why you love (or want to love) your job, and comment: What’s one thing making your work fulfilling?

To your passionate, ownership-filled career,
Justin Stephens