It is often said (and has attributed to many different people) that “if you will find a job you love you will never work another day in your life.” While that sounds like a nice goal, the truth is that every job has its difficulties and at some point even the best job will feel like work. So the bigger issue is not finding a career that seems like play all the time, but finding a career that God has designed you to do that will bring the greatest satisfaction in your life.
The best book I have read concerning career choices is Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. In this book he talks about finding a job and a career that God has uniquely designed you to perform. It is all about finding your “sweet spot” in life where your work seems to be effortless while accomplishing its goal. That doesn’t mean that it is always easy or fun, but that it is fulfilling and satisfying. It is the kind of work you enjoy doing and may sometimes feel guilty that people actually pay you for doing.
This first tip is the whole focus of the book by Lucado. The other 4 tips are how to apply what you discover to your life.
A satisfying career … it is the kind of work you enjoy doing and may sometimes feel guilty that people actually pay you for doing.
Make A Life Inventory
Look back over your life and write down the things you used to do for the sheer pleasure of doing. If you are like me, you may find that there are many different types of activities that brought you satisfaction. It may actually be hard to see one activity that pops up over and over. But as you look at your list of enjoyable things, you might find a common thread that will help you see the types of activities you enjoy.
Spend some time in prayer asking God to help you call to mind those activities. Those moments of satisfaction may have been during previous work experience or it may have been when you were in school. Think about your time from elementary all the way through the time you finished formal education and write down all the great activities that seemed to inspire your life and you wished you could continue doing forever. Maybe your inspiration came during time away from school. Time with friends on the weekend or cooking dinner for your family. Write down those pleasurable times and activities.
When you start to see a pattern of satisfaction it will help you see that God has given you a personality that is satisfied by certain activities. In fact, when you see the things that bring the greatest joy to you, it might surprise you to discover that not everyone enjoys those things. That is because God made each one of us different and that He has a purpose for your life that is different than His plan for others.
Work Within Your Values
An area that is critical to job satisfaction is working within your value system. If you work for a company that you cannot wholeheartedly support, then you probably will never find complete satisfaction in your career. No company is perfect. You will always have to deal with flawed people. However, there are many places where you can work and not have to compromise your values and goals in life.
Recently I was in a nationally known hardware store. I needed a particular product that one of the workers wasn’t sure they carried. He connected me with another worker who was able to help me out. As my wife and I were leaving the store the first worker caught us in the parking lot to make sure that we were served in a satisfactory way. I could tell that his personal value system was based on serving the customer even if it meant sending us to another store down the street. He was able to stay true to his personal mission of serving the customer while also serving the company he worked for. He seemed content to know that we got the answer we needed.
Write Down Your Goals
Once you start to define what a satisfying career means for you, you need to write down your goals. What do you expect to accomplish in the next month, year or decade that will help you know that you are doing what you endeavor to do?
The first goal should be landing that job that God has designed you to love. It could be that God wants you to stay right where you are, but change your attitude toward the job you are doing. Or, you can stay in your current employment, but ask for a change of positions. You may need some education that will help you make the transition to your desired career. Your current job could be what pays for that needed education. In other words, don’t burn your bridges where you are. Your current employment is likely to be the key to getting you where you want to be.
Obviously not everything will be done in the timeline that you initially set for it, but if you don’t have goals then you will never know if you are moving forward. It has been proven time and again that successful people are in the habit of writing down their goals. The more intentional you are about having a written plan, the more likely you are to reach those goals and move towards the career that you desire.
Find An Internship
You may still not know exactly what that new job will be but you want to try the waters in a few different places. If you are just starting out on your job search, you have many internships that are probably available to you. Take advantage of those. Ask your parents, fellow church members, and college advisers to give you some recommendations on where to start with finding an internship in your chosen field. There are so many job fields that are represented in the typical church setting. As a young person without much work experience you may be shocked to know all the different departments that are needed to run a company. It is likely someone you know could help you get an internship in their company so that you can see for yourself if a particular job is right for you.
If you are already involved with a career and can’t take 3 months off for a full internship, try to find friends within your social circles who could help you investigate different jobs at their places of employment. This could mean taking a department leader to dinner and interviewing him for information about a particular job. This doesn’t mean you are trying to get a job there, but that you want to know if that job really would be the kind of work you enjoy. Of course, we all know that what people say about a job and its listed job description is not always exactly what the job entails.
Look For Satisfaction, Not Just Success
It could be that your dream job is not a high-paying, high-profile job. There is nothing wrong with desiring a job that does not put you at the top of the corporate ladder. Success should be measured by your own goals and what is needed to make you satisfied that you are accomplishing the job God wants you to do.
Do you have that list of goals for your career projected out a few years that I mentioned? This will be your standard from which you will work. Again, your written goals probably need to be adjusted from time to time, but you need to have something that gives you a basic plan. Revisit those goals regularly and make sure you are still headed towards that fulfillment that got you started down this path to begin with.
Success for you should be defined by your level of satisfaction with the career you have chosen.
Though these tips didn’t all come from Max Lucado’s book, I encourage any Christian looking for direction in their job search to read the book Cure for the Common Life. Even as a person in full-time ministry I have read the book more than once to help give me direction and reconnect me to what God has designed me to do.
May God give you clarity and direction as you seek to please Him with your career choice. Also, try to be sensitive to God’s working through your current employer. God wants you to grow closer to Him. He desires to have a personal relationship with you that extends beyond your salvation. Some of the frustration you experience in your current career is likely caused by God trying to draw you closer to Him. Learn what He is teaching you where you are, so that when you get to where you want to be in your job it will help you have a better daily relationship with Him.
Take a look at this article: How to Glorify God at Work
Resource: Lucado, Max. Cure for the common life. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 2011
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