What Did You Learn At Work Today?
We spend most of our time at work. Many of us work hard. What's it for? Money? Success? Fame? Everyone's got his reasons. But in some way, for some reason, we all want to do well.
At the end of a hard day, do you ask yourself how the day went? Do you ever look back and critically break down your time spent and see how you could have spent it more efficiently? Or how you could have been more effective in producing results?
There's a whole book in the Bible, Proverbs, that basically focuses on wisdom and virtue. A whole book! One simple lesson we can learn from Proverbs is that time spent cultivating wisdom and the virtues is time well spent.
So, since we spend most of our time at work, work should be a good place to cultivate wisdom and virtue. Which means that money, success, fame, and all the rest really are not the best reasons to work long and hard.
In fact, the author of Proverbs (who, as good Catholics know, is ultimately God Himself), speaking of wisdom, says it directly:
That means that at the end of the day, besides thinking about how you could have been more efficient or more effective, shouldn't you be spending some time thinking about how you did with wisdom and the virtues? Shouldn't we all be evaluating how our thoughts, word and actions led us to be more wise? Or how we cultivated, let's say, the virtue of charity or honesty, or some other virtue? Isn't that more important than the bottom line?
It's really not that hard to do. And it doesn't have to conflict with your obligation and desire to do a good job in worldly terms. For example, let's say you're making a sales presentation. If you're successful you increase the revenue of the company. And maybe you make a nice commission or bonus. All that has to do with the world. Now let's look at this from a more "Catholic" point of view.
How well did you prepare? Are all your facts verified? Is the material well-organized so that your audience really understands what you're saying. Are there any questionable or sketchy statements or numbers or charts that are put there to "skew" the results in your favor? If so, why not make the argument using solid verifiable facts and numbers and charts. Why "skew" things?
Oh, your boss is giving the presentation and you're just helping out. Well, that's a bit of a dilemma. But maybe at some point before - or even after - the presentation, you may be in a position to "correct" what's being presented so that's it's consistent with the truth. You're not in a solid, secure enough position so that your boss will listen to you? Then how can you get into that more solid, secure position? What do you have to do be respected in your job or profession so that your boss will listen?
Your boss won't ever listen, doesn't care about you at all, in fact is leading a rather sketchy operation that is only interested in making money - no matter how they make it? Then what the heck are you doing there? You have to keep your job to support your family? Fair enough. But what are you doing - every day - to either get another job or perhaps change careers so that you'll be able to make an honest living?
Listen, I've been through some of these scenarios myself. I've not always dealt with them in a timely or effective manner. But at some point during my life, I started to realize just how important, how critical it is to sanctify my work. Ever since then, it's been a long journey of doing just that. Not always successfully, mind you. But the daily struggle to work for God's greater glory goes on. And all I'm telling you is that the struggle should be a central part of your life.
At the end of a hard day, do you ask yourself how the day went? Do you ever look back and critically break down your time spent and see how you could have spent it more efficiently? Or how you could have been more effective in producing results?
There's a whole book in the Bible, Proverbs, that basically focuses on wisdom and virtue. A whole book! One simple lesson we can learn from Proverbs is that time spent cultivating wisdom and the virtues is time well spent.
So, since we spend most of our time at work, work should be a good place to cultivate wisdom and virtue. Which means that money, success, fame, and all the rest really are not the best reasons to work long and hard.
In fact, the author of Proverbs (who, as good Catholics know, is ultimately God Himself), speaking of wisdom, says it directly:
"Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her." (Proverbs 8: 10-11)
That means that at the end of the day, besides thinking about how you could have been more efficient or more effective, shouldn't you be spending some time thinking about how you did with wisdom and the virtues? Shouldn't we all be evaluating how our thoughts, word and actions led us to be more wise? Or how we cultivated, let's say, the virtue of charity or honesty, or some other virtue? Isn't that more important than the bottom line?
It's really not that hard to do. And it doesn't have to conflict with your obligation and desire to do a good job in worldly terms. For example, let's say you're making a sales presentation. If you're successful you increase the revenue of the company. And maybe you make a nice commission or bonus. All that has to do with the world. Now let's look at this from a more "Catholic" point of view.
How well did you prepare? Are all your facts verified? Is the material well-organized so that your audience really understands what you're saying. Are there any questionable or sketchy statements or numbers or charts that are put there to "skew" the results in your favor? If so, why not make the argument using solid verifiable facts and numbers and charts. Why "skew" things?
Oh, your boss is giving the presentation and you're just helping out. Well, that's a bit of a dilemma. But maybe at some point before - or even after - the presentation, you may be in a position to "correct" what's being presented so that's it's consistent with the truth. You're not in a solid, secure enough position so that your boss will listen to you? Then how can you get into that more solid, secure position? What do you have to do be respected in your job or profession so that your boss will listen?
Your boss won't ever listen, doesn't care about you at all, in fact is leading a rather sketchy operation that is only interested in making money - no matter how they make it? Then what the heck are you doing there? You have to keep your job to support your family? Fair enough. But what are you doing - every day - to either get another job or perhaps change careers so that you'll be able to make an honest living?
Listen, I've been through some of these scenarios myself. I've not always dealt with them in a timely or effective manner. But at some point during my life, I started to realize just how important, how critical it is to sanctify my work. Ever since then, it's been a long journey of doing just that. Not always successfully, mind you. But the daily struggle to work for God's greater glory goes on. And all I'm telling you is that the struggle should be a central part of your life.
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