Where Is the Meaning in Your Job? It’s Time to Ponder It.
Mar 25, 2020
Frustrated in Your Job?
John’s childhood was spent getting ready for his 30+ year career. He had some successes if you consider temporary highs from being quoted in articles, featured on magazine covers, making good money, or even being mentioned in books. However, the highs eventually wore off, and he was back to trying to get the next high. His periods of boredom led him to make some bad business decisions. He realized that his career did not have the meaningfulness that he wanted.
John eventually sold his business to pursue the career for which God had made him. He is now more fulfilled than he has ever been. You don’t have to go through the pain John did. Read on if you want to learn about John’s defining moment and the 4 Steps to a fulfilling career for which God has made you.
Step #1
Take an honest look at yourself, your values, and your sense of meaning in life. One way to check your values is to put down how you spend your time and money. The shortcut is to admit that you are spending those treasures in ways that are just distractions from your uninspiring life. More and more expensive trips, cars, houses, experiences, and other stuff will not fill the void you feel. In other words, get real with yourself, and admit that your life could have more meaning - if that is true. If so, you are ready for Step #2.
Step #2
Assess your relationship with the Lord. Have you truly surrendered your life to Him? Are you leaning on and trusting in Him during this Covid-19 crisis instead of feeling great fear? Do you have a habit of being in the Word daily and applying the teaching? Do you pray to him for guidance before major conversations and events and more? In other words, has your heart really been changed? If so, you’re ready for Step #3
Step #3
Is there a difference between your work life and your spiritual life? Whether you earn money or not, are you applying Biblical principles at work? Do you know God’s will for you in work? Here are some verses to help.Psalm 24:1; Genesis 2:15; Colossians 3:23-24; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Timothy 5:8; and 1 Peter 2:9. With your new understanding, what is your abidance score with Jesus as a “10” and someone indifferent to God (worse than hate) is a “0”? You probably have some growing to do. I still do.
Step #4
Think about this. You are uniquely designed by God in His image. There has never been anybody just like you, there is nobody just like you now, and there never will be anybody just like you in the future. What you need to do is find a Career Assessment for Christians so that you understand the unique combination of gifts that God has given you. There should be some surprises if the science of the assessment is modern enough.
The assessment should be able to match you with the career that needs the aptitudes or gifts that you have. Some of your aptitudes may not have been developed but could be with some more school or a Personal Developmental Plan described in previous blogs.
The assessment should have a layer of personality and very basic interests. Your approach to work and where you fit on a team also should emerge. Then you should read the several suggested career matches with the “A Day in the Life of a …” along with the careers’ core tasks. As you read, you may or may not develop an interest for each career.
Assessment Science Today
Most of the assessments in the market today use older science. They are primarily interest-based with self-reported skills. First, nobody has enough career experience to be familiar with even 25% of the careers out there. So, they could be missing some fascinating careers because they don’t know how interesting they are.
Second, our self-reported skill levels are biased in all kinds of ways. The more modern science tests for them thereby increasing our self-awareness. Third, the modern aptitude-based assessments send women and minorities to Key In-Demand Careers 3.4 and 2.1 times more, respectively, than the older assessments do according to a recent study of 11,478 Georgia public school students.
Fourth, it’s never too late to have an assessment for your Second Half. Plus, students as young as 14 can take the more modern tests to avoid the wasted time and money on some college experiences.
Conclusion
John’s defining moment was when he surrendered his life to Christ. I am John, and I had a “defining work moment” that would not have been possible if I had not surrendered. I was a financial advisor to multi-millionaire family’s worth up to hundreds of millions.
One day I was talking to a partner about a client worth $60,000,000 who wanted to be worth $100,000,000 because that’s how you keep score. Suddenly, I had my “defining work moment”. I had been helping already wealthy people become even wealthier, participating in a process that led them to believe they were doing it and not God, and I was possibly putting a stumbling block between them and Christ. I could not do that anymore.
For this reason and others, I sold my business and started this ministry, Unstatus Your Quo® Career Assessments and Coaching, which is a great fit for me. Noah and I are driven to help people realize that they could do something a lot or a little different and feel the fulfillment and joy that we feel.
Charlie Haines
