"Keeping Up" at Work
In business you can't sit on your laurels. That's true in my business or any business. It's true for the owner of the business, the management team, and the employees. What worked like a charm before may not be good enough now. You need to keep up.
For the business owner, you've got to keep up not only with your competition, but also with changing tastes of customers, technology, as well as a changing work force that reflects a dumbed-down education system (sorry, its true). Add to this the imposing and ubiquitous obstacles and hurdles government puts in the way of your success in the form of regulation: Under the current administration alone, over 28,800 new regulations were added to the list of those effecting business. And if you're a small business, guess what? You can't just turn this over to your "legal team" to sort through. You're either facing a significant outsourcing expense, or you've got to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty and figure out what new reporting, paperwork, record-keeping, documented procedures, etc. you'll need to incorporate into your already tightly-packed list of daily "To Dos." Similar challenges face managers of businesses.
For employees, we might add the need to keep up skill levels. If you've been in an industry or profession for more than 10 years, you've seen how much things have changed. You need to keep up with changes in your industry, products and/or services, as well the technical skills required to function effectively. Your value depends on your expanded and increased skill set.
This "keeping up" is yet one manifestation of the "battle" we face in our work each day. Fighting this battle consumes much of our time and requires tremendous energy. (We extensively discussed how and why we battle in our work and in our spiritual life HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.)
There can be been times when the constant struggle to keep up, never mind get ahead, really wears on one's spirits. It's at such times that we need to turn to God. It's at such times that we learn the meaning of trusting in God. The more pressed or weary we feel, the more we need God's grace - as opposed to a third martini, mindless entertainment, drugs, or the rest of that tawdry list of thoughts and actions that typically present themselves as "relief" from the burdens of our work.
By way of inspiring the appropriate Catholic response to "keeping up," we return to something Father Jacques Michel taught us a couple of weeks ago:
Keep up and keep fighting.
For the business owner, you've got to keep up not only with your competition, but also with changing tastes of customers, technology, as well as a changing work force that reflects a dumbed-down education system (sorry, its true). Add to this the imposing and ubiquitous obstacles and hurdles government puts in the way of your success in the form of regulation: Under the current administration alone, over 28,800 new regulations were added to the list of those effecting business. And if you're a small business, guess what? You can't just turn this over to your "legal team" to sort through. You're either facing a significant outsourcing expense, or you've got to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty and figure out what new reporting, paperwork, record-keeping, documented procedures, etc. you'll need to incorporate into your already tightly-packed list of daily "To Dos." Similar challenges face managers of businesses.
For employees, we might add the need to keep up skill levels. If you've been in an industry or profession for more than 10 years, you've seen how much things have changed. You need to keep up with changes in your industry, products and/or services, as well the technical skills required to function effectively. Your value depends on your expanded and increased skill set.
This "keeping up" is yet one manifestation of the "battle" we face in our work each day. Fighting this battle consumes much of our time and requires tremendous energy. (We extensively discussed how and why we battle in our work and in our spiritual life HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.)
There can be been times when the constant struggle to keep up, never mind get ahead, really wears on one's spirits. It's at such times that we need to turn to God. It's at such times that we learn the meaning of trusting in God. The more pressed or weary we feel, the more we need God's grace - as opposed to a third martini, mindless entertainment, drugs, or the rest of that tawdry list of thoughts and actions that typically present themselves as "relief" from the burdens of our work.
By way of inspiring the appropriate Catholic response to "keeping up," we return to something Father Jacques Michel taught us a couple of weeks ago:
Let us ever remember that Christ did not enter into His glory until after He had suffered, and that He has admitted His saints to share it only after crosses and combats and sacrifices; the renouncing of their passions and their self-will.If step #1 is asking for God's grace, step #2 would be our being open to His grace. While He's generous with His grace, He never forces Himself on us. And to assure our openness, we need to overcome our innate self-centered focus. Our sacrifices help us do just that, in addition to being a form of reparation for sin. That's why it's so important to avoid gossip, to cultivate virtues such as patience with those who challenge our charity, to practice those forms of self-denial known as mortifications throughout the work day. If we keep at it even as we struggle to keep up, we've got something we can offer to our Lord suffering on His Cross even in the midst of the busiest days at work. As Father Michel reminds us:
To aspire to the crown of justice without fighting is a contradiction to the truths of faith – to expect to fight and yet not to suffer is contrary to common sense.So tough as "keeping up" can feel at times, know that it's just a logical extension of our place in this world consistent with our desire to work for the greater glory of God. Such a realization won't make your days easier. But it will help to fill them with God's grace. Remember this as you also recall that being in the state of grace, more specifically dying in the state of grace, will open the gates of Heaven for you when Our Lord calls you home.
Keep up and keep fighting.
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