Cut Through Distractions to Your Soul at Work
A typical work day brings a host of distractions. They can keep you from accomplishing what's really important. Consider email, for example. I'm always amazed when you email someone and they answer you instantly. How can they do this, especially when you know they've got a demanding job that keeps them jumping all day? Actually, maybe it's better to ask why they do this. They can't really be thinking you'll be put off if you don't receive an answer instantly, can they?
A bit of free advice: Check your email maybe two, at most three, times a day. Something like first thing in the morning; then at lunchtime; finally towards the end of the day. You'll manage and the folks who emailed you won't be impatient. Really.
What about meetings - the proverbial time-wasters of the work day. Sure, sometimes you need to meet with a person or people. But unless my personal experience is somehow the exception, I'm going to guess that maybe 90% of the meetings I've attended over the years could have been eliminated. The world and my company would have survived and likely flourished - maybe flourished. Instead of sitting through the typical vague, meandering "brain-storming," or whatever else goes on at your typical meeting, you could actually be working. Isn't that what you're paid to do?
The last one we'll mention today: co-workers. Once upon a time, their incursions on your work flow would be restricted to physically imposing themselves on you sitting at your desk or walking about. Of course, these days, you've got texting and instant messaging to fill in every spare moment. Again, is most of this really necessary? I don't know about you, but I just barely have time to handle my daily work flow day to day, without constantly "reaching out" to A, B, or C to elicit their opinion on matter D.
Well, hard as it sometimes might be, let's try to be considerate of our fellow workers, and hope and pray they consider us as well, as we go about our work today. Get on those important items and forge ahead.
You know, if you can limit distractions that take you away from work, you might find a moment here and there to pray during the work day. Imagine that. Maybe as you finish one task and move to the next - you say a quick mental prayer: Jesus, I love you. Or even better, you hit a roadblock of some sort. You're looking for just the right phrase for that memo. Or maybe you're writing code and are looking for the cleanest, most elegant next line. So you explain your problem to Jesus; ask for His help. Takes about 10 - 20 seconds. But when you do that, you've touched Our Lord's Heart. He really likes when we go to Him and ask for help. The thing is, just like you've got to establish good work habits that keep you focused throughout the day so you won't constantly be yanked this way and that by distractions, you need to establish some good spiritual habits so you'll just naturally be in touch with God without making a big deal about it.
So I came across this from Father William Doyle the other day and it seemed like a really, REALLY good way to build up the sort of habits that will help you keep your spiritual life alive and kicking even during the most busy work days. Read this, think about it, pray about it, then apply it.
Just like it took me time and effort to control and mostly eliminate distractions at work, it took me a while to start to build up the habit of seeing God in everything. But just keep at it. And once you get the hang of it, you'll have a vibrant spiritual life before, during, and after work - just about all the time. Instead of being subject to constant distractions short-circuiting your spiritual like, you'll just go about your day and naturally start to see God in everything.
Anyway, I hope you find this as helpful as I did.
A bit of free advice: Check your email maybe two, at most three, times a day. Something like first thing in the morning; then at lunchtime; finally towards the end of the day. You'll manage and the folks who emailed you won't be impatient. Really.
What about meetings - the proverbial time-wasters of the work day. Sure, sometimes you need to meet with a person or people. But unless my personal experience is somehow the exception, I'm going to guess that maybe 90% of the meetings I've attended over the years could have been eliminated. The world and my company would have survived and likely flourished - maybe flourished. Instead of sitting through the typical vague, meandering "brain-storming," or whatever else goes on at your typical meeting, you could actually be working. Isn't that what you're paid to do?
The last one we'll mention today: co-workers. Once upon a time, their incursions on your work flow would be restricted to physically imposing themselves on you sitting at your desk or walking about. Of course, these days, you've got texting and instant messaging to fill in every spare moment. Again, is most of this really necessary? I don't know about you, but I just barely have time to handle my daily work flow day to day, without constantly "reaching out" to A, B, or C to elicit their opinion on matter D.
Well, hard as it sometimes might be, let's try to be considerate of our fellow workers, and hope and pray they consider us as well, as we go about our work today. Get on those important items and forge ahead.
You know, if you can limit distractions that take you away from work, you might find a moment here and there to pray during the work day. Imagine that. Maybe as you finish one task and move to the next - you say a quick mental prayer: Jesus, I love you. Or even better, you hit a roadblock of some sort. You're looking for just the right phrase for that memo. Or maybe you're writing code and are looking for the cleanest, most elegant next line. So you explain your problem to Jesus; ask for His help. Takes about 10 - 20 seconds. But when you do that, you've touched Our Lord's Heart. He really likes when we go to Him and ask for help. The thing is, just like you've got to establish good work habits that keep you focused throughout the day so you won't constantly be yanked this way and that by distractions, you need to establish some good spiritual habits so you'll just naturally be in touch with God without making a big deal about it.
So I came across this from Father William Doyle the other day and it seemed like a really, REALLY good way to build up the sort of habits that will help you keep your spiritual life alive and kicking even during the most busy work days. Read this, think about it, pray about it, then apply it.
Just like it took me time and effort to control and mostly eliminate distractions at work, it took me a while to start to build up the habit of seeing God in everything. But just keep at it. And once you get the hang of it, you'll have a vibrant spiritual life before, during, and after work - just about all the time. Instead of being subject to constant distractions short-circuiting your spiritual like, you'll just go about your day and naturally start to see God in everything.
Anyway, I hope you find this as helpful as I did.
“I want you to make a greater effort to see the hand of God in everything that happens, and then to force or train yourself to rejoice in His holy will. For example, you want a fine day for some reason and it turns out wet. Don’t say, ‘Oh, hang it!’, but give our Lord a loving smile and say: ‘Thank You, my God, for this disappointment.’ This will help you to keep down impatience, irritability, etc., when people annoy you. Then when some hard trial is past, look back on it, see how you ought to have taken it, and resolve to act that way in the future.” (Fr. William Doyle, S.J., 1873-1917)
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