Can We Work Too Much?
In our last two posts we looked at work from the view of the small business owner, as well as how the all-consuming demands of running a small business can make it difficult, if not impossible, to take time off. We proposed one remedy to dealing with the frustrations that ensue from those all-consuming demands. Along the way, I noted how, my own business has, at times, demanded my attention virtually 24/7. Now let's look a little deeper into this by asking ourselves, "Can we work too much?" This concerns those of us who spend what really are inordinate amounts of our time working, including time we should spend with God, and our families.
The fact is, when all we do is work, to the exclusion of all else, we're living in a fundamentally disordered way. We're not mules designed to carry loads all day. No matter how important you consider your work, no matter how demanding your job, even if you love what you do, there's more to life than work. Not only is there, but there must be.
If you're trying to practice your Catholic Faith seriously, you can't do that if you work too much. You're working too much if the concerns of business deflect your mind and heart from God. The fact is, you need time to pray, to study, to read good spiritual works. It's important to take at least a few minutes alone with God. No matter how busy the day's (and night's!) work, you have to pause and recollect yourself at times with at least an aspiration or two, e.g., something like "Jesus, I love You..."All for Thee Lord"...or whatever makes sense and somehow "clicks" with your personality and temperament. That doesn't mean you don't attend to your daily labor with full attention and effort. Working for the greater glory of God doesn't won't prevent you from working long and hard, if that's what's called for. But constant, unending, obsessive labor that doesn't allow you even a few minutes to recollect yourself from time to time to at least offer up your efforts to God will in the end wear out not only your mind and body, but your soul as well.
It's also not acceptable to work too much when you have a family. You need exclusive time to be able to focus on wife, children, and various and sundry domestic matters. You can't just offload, or maybe more accurately dump, family matters on your wife. Your kids need attention and, when appropriate, counsel and discipline, from their father.
And it's not just running a small business that presents challenges here. Many of us have jobs that require long hours at the office which not infrequently spill over into our personal time. We sometimes - or frequently - take work home. And even when we're not specifically performing tasks related to our jobs, our minds can become distracted with job-related matters during our time at home.
Having been subjected to this both working for an employer, and running my own business, I'm well aware of what too much work does to your home life and your spiritual life. And once you become aware of these you realize (ideally right away) you must do something about it. What to do?
There's really no one answer to this. Everyone's life is unique. We all have different circumstances, different personalities, different temperaments. Some of us spot a problem and immediately get to work to solve it. Others tend to analyze and ruminate. But one way or another, we must address "too much work" if it's taken over our lives.
If you're in this situation - or even if you're just feeling a bit overworked - and you're not sure where to start to get a handle on the problem, you might consider a few posts we've offered in the past. For example, these two (HERE and HERE) on how to "refresh" yourself at work; or these two (HERE and HERE) on how to "re-set" yourself. These were presented as more or less "quick fixes" when our work has overwhelmed us in any way.
On the other hand, if you really need to step back, dig down deep, and re-jigger your priorities, it could be time to spruce up the plan you have in place for your business. If that's the case, you can tune into our next few posts. They'll focus on making your plan fit into God's plan. In fact, even if your current plan seems to be working OK, and your life is relatively balanced, you may enjoy and benefit from our discussion. It's basically a broader, deeper, look at uniting ourselves to God through our work. Doing so will not only help straighten out those of us suffering from the disorder of working too much, but also strengthen all of us as we face the daily challenge of our demanding work lives.
With that in mind, next time we'll review: How to Make Your Plan Fit Into God's Plan. See you then.
The fact is, when all we do is work, to the exclusion of all else, we're living in a fundamentally disordered way. We're not mules designed to carry loads all day. No matter how important you consider your work, no matter how demanding your job, even if you love what you do, there's more to life than work. Not only is there, but there must be.
If you're trying to practice your Catholic Faith seriously, you can't do that if you work too much. You're working too much if the concerns of business deflect your mind and heart from God. The fact is, you need time to pray, to study, to read good spiritual works. It's important to take at least a few minutes alone with God. No matter how busy the day's (and night's!) work, you have to pause and recollect yourself at times with at least an aspiration or two, e.g., something like "Jesus, I love You..."All for Thee Lord"...or whatever makes sense and somehow "clicks" with your personality and temperament. That doesn't mean you don't attend to your daily labor with full attention and effort. Working for the greater glory of God doesn't won't prevent you from working long and hard, if that's what's called for. But constant, unending, obsessive labor that doesn't allow you even a few minutes to recollect yourself from time to time to at least offer up your efforts to God will in the end wear out not only your mind and body, but your soul as well.
It's also not acceptable to work too much when you have a family. You need exclusive time to be able to focus on wife, children, and various and sundry domestic matters. You can't just offload, or maybe more accurately dump, family matters on your wife. Your kids need attention and, when appropriate, counsel and discipline, from their father.
And it's not just running a small business that presents challenges here. Many of us have jobs that require long hours at the office which not infrequently spill over into our personal time. We sometimes - or frequently - take work home. And even when we're not specifically performing tasks related to our jobs, our minds can become distracted with job-related matters during our time at home.
Having been subjected to this both working for an employer, and running my own business, I'm well aware of what too much work does to your home life and your spiritual life. And once you become aware of these you realize (ideally right away) you must do something about it. What to do?
There's really no one answer to this. Everyone's life is unique. We all have different circumstances, different personalities, different temperaments. Some of us spot a problem and immediately get to work to solve it. Others tend to analyze and ruminate. But one way or another, we must address "too much work" if it's taken over our lives.
If you're in this situation - or even if you're just feeling a bit overworked - and you're not sure where to start to get a handle on the problem, you might consider a few posts we've offered in the past. For example, these two (HERE and HERE) on how to "refresh" yourself at work; or these two (HERE and HERE) on how to "re-set" yourself. These were presented as more or less "quick fixes" when our work has overwhelmed us in any way.
On the other hand, if you really need to step back, dig down deep, and re-jigger your priorities, it could be time to spruce up the plan you have in place for your business. If that's the case, you can tune into our next few posts. They'll focus on making your plan fit into God's plan. In fact, even if your current plan seems to be working OK, and your life is relatively balanced, you may enjoy and benefit from our discussion. It's basically a broader, deeper, look at uniting ourselves to God through our work. Doing so will not only help straighten out those of us suffering from the disorder of working too much, but also strengthen all of us as we face the daily challenge of our demanding work lives.
With that in mind, next time we'll review: How to Make Your Plan Fit Into God's Plan. See you then.
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