When you think about work, does it generate a feeling of joy or dread?
Do you get excited looking at what you’ve accomplished at the end of the week, or do you start the Friday countdown on Wednesday? Considering that we spend 40-50 hours a week (or 45% of our waking hours) at our job, one would hope that we are spending it doing something that we enjoy and that matters to us and to others.
Unfortunately, all too often people get stuck somewhere. In fact, one third of all Americans say they ‘hate their job’ and two thirds of them say if they could do it all again, they would have chosen a different career. And of those who find ‘success’ (whatever that means), only 50% of them feel true satisfaction in their chosen career. Based on these statistics it is heartbreaking but not surprising that most suicides occur on Sunday nights and most heart attacks occur on Monday mornings.
Stuck in a rut?
The reality is that most of us must work. We have mortgages (or rent) to pay, families to feed, healthcare needs, and hopefully vacations. These commitments repeat themselves every single month. One can wonder if this unending need (or obligation) to work somehow overrides our desire to do good work because we must do it. Perhaps the problem is not the occupation we have chosen but instead the way we view our job. If we approach our work as a means to an end, literally to collect a paycheck, then it will deplete you and be unfulfilling, or worse yet, make you feel resentful in some way.
Check your perspective
I would like to encourage you to step back and look at your work through a different lens. List all the talents that God has given specifically to you. Are you using those gifts to glorify God? Are you challenging yourself to grow and learn? Do you treat each day as an opportunity to use the gifts that God has given you to truly make a difference in at least one person’s life each day? If you are not, consider why? What is stopping you? Is there something that can shift right where you are?
Before you blame your boss, the organization, or the industry all together, consider approaching your work with a renewed attitude and sense of purpose. If your heart still does not experience joy most of the time, what do you need to change? Who says you cannot launch on a different path for the next decade building on what you may have already mastered?
What we do matters
TwelveStone is a Christian company that honors God in how we spend our money, time, and influence. I firmly believe God cares as much about our work as He does about our worship. Every single day we get the opportunity to take care of people in Tennessee who are struggling with significant illness. Thankfully they are blessed physically, personally, and spiritually because of the job you do! If TwelveStone went out of business, it would have a tremendous impact on their quality of their life, immediately and longer term.
Following God’s Blueprints
Look at it this way, your job is not just about you. Your work serves others, and it supports you and your family. This company isn’t yours and it is not even mine. It is God’s company, and He needs you to be excellent because He is excellent. If you see a fellow co-worker who is feeling down or not living up to their potential, encourage them. There will be a day they can return the favor.
In the coming week I encourage you to consider these concepts:
- You work in God’s building
- You answer God’s phones
- You mix God’s IV’s
- You run God’s Rx packaging machines
- You take care of God’s technology
- You serve God’s patients in the Infusion Centers
- You mail out God’s bills to his patients
I get asked all the time. How has your business been able to survive the COVID pandemic?
My answer is simple – “We did not just survive. We have thrived because I work with some of the most talented healthcare professionals in the country and they enjoy what they do.”
