Our Interior Life and Our Work - 2

Today we dive in and see why I've been finding that recommendation from The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard so helpful in my spiritual life and in my work. Again, the idea here is that unless we corral our work in some way, we'll never make serious progress in building up our Interior Life.

We're assuming here that a) We recognize the importance of a strong and vibrant Interior Life and are willing to do what we can to build it; b) We have a busy work life that can take up so much time that our Interior Life can easily be shunted aside.

With that in mind, I'll convey my experience in trying to apply this over the last couple of months or so. To recall: 

1. I will always take more time than is necessary to do everything. This is the way to avoid being in a hurry and getting excited.

2. Since I will invariably have more things to do than time in which to do them, and this prospect preoccupies me and gets me all worked up, I will cease to think about all I have to do, and only consider the time I have at my disposal. I will make use of that time, without losing a moment of it, beginning with the most important duties; and as regards those that may or may not get done, I shall not worry about them.

For #1, I already had come to the realization that being in a hurry and getting excited rarely if ever yields good results. That applies to my spiritual life, my work life, and my personal life in general. Let's focus here on work life.

As we've noted in past posts, if you're organized in your work, you likely begin the day with some sort of task list. I set mine up each week for the following week. It's already written out on a single sheet of paper that sits on my desk. (I also have a digital task list on my computer, but I like crossing things off when I finish a task. It's somehow satisfying.)

In trying to seriously apply #1, it quickly became clear that my habit was to over-schedule tasks for a particular day. Two things can happen when you do this: 1) You either work yourself into a tizzy in order to finish everything today - which can easily lead to shoddy work here and there (or sometimes everywhere) in order to "get it all done" or 2) You don't finish everything and get worked up and/or anxious because of it.

So the proposal here is carve out "more time than is necessary to do everything." Of course, based on experience, it helps if your "everything" isn't unwieldy. Otherwise, you'll wind up with: OK, this should take me 10-12 hours, so I'll carve out 14-16 hours. That might work once in a while. But even Supeman needs some down time. In any case, I hope you get the point. Prudence and temperance will help you here.

For #2, I had already developed a pretty good sense of tackling important items right away. I've also gotten into the habit of focusing totally on my work when I'm working. For me, breaking the work day into various chunks helps. Enforced limited breaks keep me fresh. I use a timer to keep me disciplined. Sure, I slip up from time to time, but applying myself thusly has become my regular habit. It works for me.

If your experience with #2 is similar to mine, since there are frequently more things to do than time to do them, you'll need to really work at this one. I still get "worked up" if I see my list and consider the time available. But - and I was actually surprised here - with a conscious effort that "worked up" has really more or less dissipated. I think focusing on the work at hand and staying in the moment has been a big help. I had already done this at times, but now it's a priority. I work at it daily. When I drift, I push myself back into line.

The last part remains a bit of a challenge: "as regards those that may or may not get done, I shall not worry about them." Running a small business makes this particularly difficult. But I like a challenge; and this one's certainly that. Thoughts of work still "spills over." But I have somewhat lessened the spillage. I'm not sure I can totally eliminate this, but I compare it to efforts in my spiritual life: You make some progress. You slip and fall back a bit. You pick yourself up and start over again.

I read where this is what's been true for most saints. While a select few were blessed from youth with absolute purity of mind and conscience, most were just like most of us. Temptations stick their noses under your mental and emotional tents and can smack you around sometimes. When that happens, the saints don't dwell on it, they don't fret. They're contrite and pray for the grace to start over again. Any of us can do that. (That's one reason why any of us can become saints.)

So what about results? Well, I've found my work hasn't suffered at all. In fact, while it's early, I think it's improving. Meeting deadlines along with the the quality of the work may have bumped up a bit already. But I think I need to give it 6 months or so to really see if that holds. Like anything else, there's always a danger that initial enthusiasm flames out after a few weeks.

One more thing, and this related to our spiritual life: It's important to remember that we shouldn't dote on results. Sometimes God withholds any perceived results to test us, to strengthen us. So without focusing on or being even concerned about results, applying these recommendations has certainly freed up time throughout the day for prayer and simply "being" in God's Presence. But, again, I want to give it time. I want to see whether I can sustain my new devotions in a spirit of love (vs. mere obligation). Again, when it comes to results, I need to set that aside and rely on God's mercy and love. If I'm doing His Will, then I'll be on the right track and - by His grace - will remain on track.

And yet, we have to recognize that, despite our best efforts, it may not be realistic to anticipate or expect peace and stability to reign triumphant in our work (or personal) lives all the time. We're just not made that way. Fallen human nature won't always cooperate with even our best efforts here. Next time we'll talk about that.