How to Bear the Burden of Success at Work - Part I
Sometimes, the burden of success becomes unbearable at work. What I mean is that we're expected by our company, our boss, or even ourselves, to succeed at everything we do. Isn't that true?
And there's nothing wrong with that approach. No one assigns or takes on a task or project expecting to fail. We start our work with success in mind, right? To start out any other way makes no sense.
But, alas, we don't always succeed. Things don't always go as we planned. The tide turns against us. Maybe the project itself was far too ambitious, or perhaps unrealistic. And ideally, you work in an environment where success is expected, but partial success, or even failure, isn't the end of the world. I hope you do.
I once had a job working for a small company whose general manager - we'll call him George - was hired by the partners who invested in the business. George was charged with acquiring a certain number of customers by a certain date so that the partners could sell the business at a profit. It was a local cable TV operation that eventually was sold to one of the giant cable TV operators like Time Warner. The general manager - our boss - let nothing stand in his way. When our sales team couldn't produce the numbers he needed fast enough, he hired an outside team to supplement our work. Their methods were a bit over the top (I'm being charitable) but they got the numbers George needed.
For two years, the pressure to meet the numbers grew, eventually getting down to a day by day accounting accompanied by George's often vulgar and abusive "motivational" talks. Success was the only option. George's promised personal bonus hung in the balance. For the rest of us, it was our jobs that hung in the balance.
I managed to survive the experience intact and made some pretty good money during those two years - money I needed to support a family.
But I remember that the burden of success was quite unbearable at times; my faith was not very strong at the time and I didn't really understand how important it was to rely on God. So the burden of each day's increasing demands for success grew heavier and heavier, day by day.
I guess the experience was really one of those "you do what you gotta do" times where my prospects for making money were pretty much limited to this job and so I bore the burden the best I could (not very well, at times). Too bad I didn't know that I could - no, should - rely on God. Now I know.
If you have the burden of success weighing on you in your work, I hope you know that the first place to turn is God. I hope your faith is stronger, more informed than mine was in those days. If your faith is strong and you understand what I'm talking about, then you're already turning to God throughout your work day. If your faith isn't that strong, and you don't really understand what I'm talking about, do your best to strengthen you faith starting right now. And learn to turn to God every day at work, especially when you feel that the pressure's on you to succeed.
God may not always respond to you in the way you want. For example, he may not help you reach your sales quota on time if, for whatever reason, you've fallen behind. But he will respond immediately in whatever way He knows is best for you. And the only way you'll understand this is to continually go to Him every day at work, bring His presence to your work every day. Eventually, you'll feel His presence, or know that He is right there helping you bear the pressures of the day, especially the burden of success.
But, let's face it, even with strong faith and the habit of making God present in our work, there are times we fail. Success eludes us, no matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we pray. What then? We'll take a look at this next time...
And there's nothing wrong with that approach. No one assigns or takes on a task or project expecting to fail. We start our work with success in mind, right? To start out any other way makes no sense.
But, alas, we don't always succeed. Things don't always go as we planned. The tide turns against us. Maybe the project itself was far too ambitious, or perhaps unrealistic. And ideally, you work in an environment where success is expected, but partial success, or even failure, isn't the end of the world. I hope you do.
I once had a job working for a small company whose general manager - we'll call him George - was hired by the partners who invested in the business. George was charged with acquiring a certain number of customers by a certain date so that the partners could sell the business at a profit. It was a local cable TV operation that eventually was sold to one of the giant cable TV operators like Time Warner. The general manager - our boss - let nothing stand in his way. When our sales team couldn't produce the numbers he needed fast enough, he hired an outside team to supplement our work. Their methods were a bit over the top (I'm being charitable) but they got the numbers George needed.
For two years, the pressure to meet the numbers grew, eventually getting down to a day by day accounting accompanied by George's often vulgar and abusive "motivational" talks. Success was the only option. George's promised personal bonus hung in the balance. For the rest of us, it was our jobs that hung in the balance.
I managed to survive the experience intact and made some pretty good money during those two years - money I needed to support a family.
But I remember that the burden of success was quite unbearable at times; my faith was not very strong at the time and I didn't really understand how important it was to rely on God. So the burden of each day's increasing demands for success grew heavier and heavier, day by day.
I guess the experience was really one of those "you do what you gotta do" times where my prospects for making money were pretty much limited to this job and so I bore the burden the best I could (not very well, at times). Too bad I didn't know that I could - no, should - rely on God. Now I know.
If you have the burden of success weighing on you in your work, I hope you know that the first place to turn is God. I hope your faith is stronger, more informed than mine was in those days. If your faith is strong and you understand what I'm talking about, then you're already turning to God throughout your work day. If your faith isn't that strong, and you don't really understand what I'm talking about, do your best to strengthen you faith starting right now. And learn to turn to God every day at work, especially when you feel that the pressure's on you to succeed.
God may not always respond to you in the way you want. For example, he may not help you reach your sales quota on time if, for whatever reason, you've fallen behind. But he will respond immediately in whatever way He knows is best for you. And the only way you'll understand this is to continually go to Him every day at work, bring His presence to your work every day. Eventually, you'll feel His presence, or know that He is right there helping you bear the pressures of the day, especially the burden of success.
But, let's face it, even with strong faith and the habit of making God present in our work, there are times we fail. Success eludes us, no matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we pray. What then? We'll take a look at this next time...
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