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PROGRAM D-8302
Certainly you have learned skills and gained experience on your jobs which have proven very beneficial to your career, and those skills and abilities have been an important part of your growth. Stop and think about how your jobs have taught you many skills and made you more productive and confident. I think in the midst of hectic schedules, deadlines, and difficulties, it’s easy to overlook the many good things you’re learning and the ways you’re growing simply by doing your job each day.
In addition, think about the many life skills and relationship skills you are learning, even though while you’re in the midst of it, it may seem more like baptism by fire rather than a training experience! Here are some examples of the practical and important things you should be learning in a job, if indeed you’re doing a good job:
- The importance of being on time.
- The importance of meeting deadlines.
- The ability to work with a team to accomplish a task.
- The necessity of fulfilling your promises and commitments.
- The importance of doing everything with excellence so as to avoid do-overs!
- The deadliness of procrastination.
- The fact that you can’t afford to let things fall between the cracks.
These are just some of the practical things you learn when you accept the responsibility of a job. For sure, a job well-done will require these kinds of skills and, if you are not willing to learn these things and grow in these areas, it will affect your progress, your promotions, your paycheck—it will hold you back!
I suggest that you survey your work habits. Are you learning these things, or are you resisting them? Have you established a reputation within your organization of being truly committed to doing your job with excellence, to improving and learning and growing? I’ve often said that a Christ-follower may not be the smartest, the most educated, or the most experienced person on their job, but they can be the most dependable, the hardest worker, and have the highest level of integrity. No matter what you do or where God takes you, these characteristics will always be important to your success and to pleasing God.