I have been in what our parents and teachers told us was the “real world” for quite a few years now, and here is what I have discovered: A lot of people are unsatisfied with their current job. (This is why they pay me the big bucks!) Anyway, I believe there is a lot of truth hiding behind the dreams of career change. Let’s be honest—most of us picked our career path in college at the wise, mature, and seasoned age of 18 or 19 when we cared more about the game on Saturday than class on Monday. Fast forward ten years later and we begin to second-guess our career path. I think thoughts of a “dream job” often fall into two categories: Reality and Escapism. One is rooted in honest inquiry and personal reflection, while the other is more of a mind game fueled by anything from discontent to ego. (The average career crisis usually has bits and pieces of both.) I will do my best to separate the two and give some practical advice from the book of Proverbs to go about a career change with wisdom.

1. GET EXPERIENCE: “A wise man will hear and increase learning.” (Prov. 1:5)

The old saying, “Don’t quit your day job” goes a long way here. It’s a comment we toss our friend’s way after an embarrassing round of karaoke, but there is a lot of truth in this statement. It is shocking how many people will jump into a career with little to no idea of just what they are getting themselves into. Go get your hands dirty in whatever you want to do. Put in a few hours (for free most likely) at a job similar to your aspirations. Get your feet wet and see if it is still a pool you want to swim in. Want to open a pet store? Work at one first. Spend a few evenings cleaning out the cages, so to speak, and see if it really is all you dreamed it would be. Find out if the “pros” outweigh the “cons”. If you don’t think there are any cons, then your dream really is escapism—a way to vent your frustrations with your current job. I remember watching an interview with a famous rock star who talked about how hard it was to spend so much time away from his family on tour. There are ups and downs of any job and I recommend you get some experience to find out what they are before you turn in your two week notice.

2. TALK TO OTHERS: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” (Prov. 12:15)

Talk to your spouse, family, friends, pastor, mentor, and LISTEN to what they think about your career change. We often have a disillusioned sense of our skill set. (This is often driven by a sense of escaping from our current position that we believe we are completely over-qualified for.) Wise counsel brings balance back into the equation. Bringing other people into the career decision will keep us from getting into a mess that everyone else could see coming. The advice of others can be very affirming of our good ideas, yet also help to expose our less than intelligent aspirations.

3. TRANSITION SLOWLY. “A wise man is cautious…but a fool is arrogant and careless.” (Prov. 14:16)

This is probably the simplest, yet best advice I could give. Take time to transition from one career to the next. People who really find the “sweet spot” of their talents and gifts in the career field got there slowly. It takes time to develop your dream into reality and gives you the ability to change course if need be. Build experience and wisdom as you transition. If you think you could jump from one job to the next flawlessly, your dream job isn’t reality (its an escape—a mental vacation). True “dream jobs” are often carved out over years of transition. The quickest way to spoil a good dream is to jump into it prematurely. With wisdom, a person can figure out ways to smoothly transition from one career to the next without bring danger to himself or his family.

4. AVOID DEBT: “The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” (Prov. 22:7)

Debt often seems like the fast track to transitioning our dream job, but it can turn out to be the greatest obstacle to enjoying our career. For example, let’s say you love to cook and opened a restaurant with an SBA loan. So far, so good. Then, when things got tight, your love of cooking was swallowed by bottom lines, profit-loss statements, and on, and on. Borrowing money puts all sorts of contingencies on your work and often sucks the life out of a profession you used to enjoy. If you can avoid debt all together (which I guarantee will extend the transition process), you free yourself to enjoy your new career without starting day one enslaved to various creditors.

5. SEEK GOD’S PLAN: “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)

It seems kind of silly to say it, but you should pray about your career change. God has plans for your life, so seek His wisdom. Too often, we make our career decision all about us. Perhaps there are greater purposes than maximizing our satisfaction with our careers? I believe God is for us seeking to use the talents and gifts He gave us in the best way, but we must start this search with humility.

Dreams can quickly turn to nightmares if we don’t approach them wisely. Imagine a scenario like this: A person starts a business that had no experience, never really talked about it with anyone else, and jumped right into it (along with the $35,000 they borrowed to get it going). To make it worse, they never even prayed about it. Then, six months later they wake up in a nightmare: hating what they do, barely paying their bills, bitter, and blaming a bad economy or ruthless competition. It’s a story that has been told too many times (notice this person missed on all five steps). I pray that God’s people will show wisdom as they seek to merge their skill set with their dreams. It may take years, but is well worth moving beyond the daily grind of punching the clock.

“Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6)

(In case you are unfamiliar with this work, the basic idea is this:  Screwtape is a senior demon writing letters back and forth with Wormwood -a lesser demon- about how to distract and destroy Christians.  It sounds twisted, but is actually a fascinating read.  Far from a book on systametic theology, it does provide some interesting nuggets to ponder...like this one.) When writing to Wormwood, Screwtape says:

As the final thought (surely there are many others) for the mini-series on finding fulfillment at work, I have elected to discuss financial freedom. This is something I have discovered from personal experience. Our financial stability independent of our employer has the potential to turn us into the best of employees. This observation seems illogical at first, but closer inspection reveals its truth.

The worker with no financial freedom is completely dependent on their employer—almost desperately dependent. I believe the no budget, over-leveraged, financially ignorant and apathetic average American that lives paycheck to paycheck is not a good worker. (And don’t make the mistake of thinking I am only talking about blue collar workers!) Think about it. A person one paycheck away from disaster is not a good worker for one fundamental reason: they are trapped. They are, in a metaphorical and literal sense, enslaved to their employer. They have to get their paycheck or they are in trouble of the worst kind.

I think this sort of bondage leads the worker to resent their position and often times their employer. They begin to feel trapped in a job that “just doesn’t pay enough” but unable weather the possibility of looking for employment elsewhere. They hate their work because they have to do it no matter what. This leads to a resentful, half-hearted worker who finds that fear is their best motivator.

Now consider a financially independent worker. Someone who works because they want to, not because they have to. Now I know we are all years away from such a position, but this is not an all or nothing issue. A worker with a budget, reasonable emergency fund, some investments or savings does not feel “trapped” the same way as the worker outlined above. They have some flexibility. They begin to feel free. They could, if they wanted, look for another job without adjusting their lifestyle. Fear is no longer their main motivation for working. It is replaced with much more favorable motivations: enjoyment, rewards, purpose, creativity, etc.

What I have found is that when you get control of your money, you stop feeling like your job is controlling you. This frees you to work well instead of desperately.

“So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind. Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.  And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?” (Eccl. 2:17-19) 

This mini series is devoted to giving Christians three practical steps to find greater fulfillment in the job.  Part 1 dealt with “the Boss”.  Today, we will take a look at how your job affects your life’s purpose.

The Bible clearly relates that our lives are to be defined by Christ not our careers: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” (Gal. 2:20)  In this, quite profoundly, is a key to finding greater joy in the workplace.  You see, American industry apart from God defines people by their careers.  If you have no greater purpose or no eternal perspective, than your life’s significance revolves around what you do.  Think about it: when you meet someone one new one of the first things you ask (almost automatically) is: “So, what do you do?”  Our cultural norm, though many would takes pains to say this is not true, is to define ourselves by our careers.  In Christ, we must move away from this.

As Solomon outlines in Ecclesiastes, there is only futility and striving after wind when our job is our life’s purpose.  The Christian must know that his purpose is far greater than the 9 to 5 grind.  A crucial moment in the life of the working Christian comes when he divorces himself from the natural tendency to find his purpose in his work.  (It is worth mentioning that there can be profound purpose and ministry for a believer who has committed his work to the Lord, but this post is for those struggling to find fulfillment at the office.)

Moving forward, a Christian will find that when they place their job in the correct location on their list of priorities then they will actually begin to enjoy work more.  The reason: they are not trying to find what cannot be found at the office.  They find their purpose, their relevance, their meaning and their significance at the cross.  Dear Christian, to a certain extent your heart must learn to “clock out”.  This will free you to follow Christ more fully, and–ironically–work with much greater fulfillment, purpose, effectiveness, and joy.

The first step for the Christian in finding fulfillment at work is getting things straight with the bossman (or boss-lady, that is).  I know this might sound obvious, but I am not talking about buttering up, flattering, brown-nosing or “yes-man”ing every decision.  In fact, what I am talking about has nothing to do with your boss–and everything to to with you!

The first step in the workplace is to recognize that our flesh naturally hates authority.  From the Garden of Eden, mankind has been second-guessing leadership, doubting instruction and taking our own initiative to lead ourselves into worlds of trouble.  We, in Christ, must overcome our natural tendency to resist authority:

“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.” (1 Pet. 2:16-18)

“For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.” (Rom. 13:3)

If it were our natural tendency to respect authority, we would not need to be instructed to respect it and follow its instruction.  So, a Christian worker must first realize he will naturally enter the work environment resenting authority instead of respecting it. 

The believing employee must realize that he is more likely to think his boss is hiding in a corner watching and waiting for him to mess up, than to think his boss is standing in his corner watching and hoping for him to succeed.  If you take the time to think about it: why would your boss want you to perform poorly?  Isn’t it in their best interests for you to do well?  When you start to analyze all the reasons your boss would want you to fail and then compare them to all the reasons your boss would want you to succeed, you realize how silly the whole notion is.

The main reason the average worker thinks his boss is out to get him has a lot more to do with his resentment of authority, ego, and belief that he should be running the company than reality.  Start praying through your ability to respect authority.  Then, you will see your boss as an ally not an adversary.

“Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.” (Prov. 10:4-5)

Solomon clearly relates that diligence “makes rich”.  I know a lot of you may be thinking, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, this nothing new.”  But, I find myself continually having to keep my work ethic in keeping with God’s word.  Seriously, how many of us would share that our work ethic needs prayer in small group or Sunday school?  It is something we know, yet often refuse to take to heart.

Do you sit at your desk constantly checking your personal email, reading blogs (oops!), daydreaming, “calling it a day” a few mintues early (after arriving in the morning a “few minutes late”), giving mediocre effort to the tasks you are required, refusing to do any task that is “someone else’s responsibility”, and wonder why–low and behold–your company does not pay you what “your worth”?  I have to be completely honest (though I know this wouldn’t describe any DnD readers!): 

Most people who complain that they are not being paid what they are “worth” are completely correct–they should be paid a lot less!

I urge you brethren to work “As to the Lord.” (Col. 3:23)

God’s people are to be constantly increasing their learning.  The first and utmost lesson is the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy One.  When CS Lewis described the after life in his Chronicles of Naria series, his characters spent eternity going ”further up and further in”, conveying the notion that we cannot ever get to the bottom or end of the knowledge of God.  This principle should govern our walk with Christ: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matt. 5:6) The spiritual journey of Christianity is to be one of racing “further up and further in” to the goodness of the Father through Christ Jesus.

As we live out our faith in this manner, we will find this rule of constant increase will convert itself into our daily living.  I believe it’s God’s intention that our beings become restless without learning and growing: “Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.” 

The wise and righteous are diligent seekers of instruction and learning. 

We should have an observable thirst for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.  I have found that those willing to stagnate mentally, physically, and spiritually live lives of drudgery and decay.  But those determined to dig into the endless depths of God’s infinity find satisfaction in their quest.  It is a wholistic issue–a life-governing principle: 

I have found that those passionate and active in their pursuit of God tend to be passionate and active in all areas of life: family, work, learning, health, friends, etc. 

Where do you fit into this continuum?  Content to pass your short days on this earth entertained with office gossip, channel surfing, and endless games of solitare?  Or bound and determined to steward your mind, body, time, and strength for God’s glory and great adventure?