How to Thrive from 9 to 5

 

Are you worried about losing your job? In this economy, lots of people have a legitimate concern as to whether their job will be here next month or next year. There’s no question that we are going through an unusual transition period, where levels of management are being eliminated and every business is searching for ways to reduce costs and overhead in order to stay competitive. Morale is at all-time low levels in many organizations.

 

If you’re worried about losing your job, it puts you right into survival mode, doesn’t it? It’s hard to concentrate, do your work, keep a good attitude, much less go the extra mile when you wonder if you’ll have a job next week. What can you do if you’re worried about losing your job? Well, of course the main thing is prayer. Keep learning that your source is the Lord, not a company or an income. We learn more about trusting God when our income is threatened than we do at most any other time in our lives.

 

Then, get creative and pro-active about your future. Learn new skills to prepare you for a possible lay-off. Find out what industries are likely to be hiring and prepare yourself to be qualified for that kind of work. Workers in the future are going to have to be more versatile and flexible in order to thrive in the job market. Perhaps you can think of ways to be self-employed. That’s going to be more and more viable in our service-oriented economy.

 

Don’t just sit back and wait for someone to dictate your future. Pray much about it, seek God’s guidance and that of trusted friends, and act before you’re acted upon. That’s how you’ll thrive, not just survive, in this new climate which is much more uncertain and changing than what we’ve been used to.

 

I know there are many things you’re dealing with that you can do nothing about. But remember what I’ve told you before: If you will control the controllable, you can cope with the uncontrollable. Do what you can to make yourself into a thriver, and then let go of the rest.

 

I’m convinced that we cannot be good witnesses for Jesus Christ if we are simply in survival mode on our jobs. Because many of us find ourselves in difficult job environments, we have an unusual opportunity to demonstrate the power of Christ in our lives. Anybody can thrive in easy times. But it takes an unusual power to thrive in tough times.