Get Your Attitude Right

Earlier this year, I went through a time of great frustration in my
job. It was partly due to fatigue, I think. We'd had some deaths in
my family, which left me worn down. And then I went through a patch
where nothing I did seemed right. I proposed projects which got shot
down, and when I wrote on assignment, editors scraped away at my
prose until only scraps were left. That's normal, part of the
process, but I felt frustrated and unappreciated.

I had to go back and relearn the right attitudes.

I need the right attitude to work hour to hour and long term.

Hour by hour, it's simple: do the work. I had to stick my rear in my
chair and not get up until I had finished a major chunk of work. That
meant resisting distractions from phone calls and emails and news
reports.

If you don't stick to it hour to hour, your discouragement will
build. But if you work hard in the short term, you'll accomplish
something. You'll find the work itself meaningful ­ and there's a
good possibility your failures will turn around. That happened to me.

Long term, I had to remember why I was working in the first place. I
had to believe in my vocation all over again. In the deepest sense, I
needed to know that I do the work because God wants me to do it.

Why are you in your job? Maybe you're there to fulfill a special
gift. Maybe you're there to make a living for your family. Maybe
you're there because the work needs to be done for the good of
society. To overcome discouragement, you need an attitude that takes
the focus off your sense of frustration. You need to remember why
your work is valid. You need to remember that God is behind it.

Both these attitudes, long term and short term, reflect what Paul
wrote to the Philippians: "Your attitude should be the same as that
of Christ Jesus." He goes on to describe how Jesus became a humble
servant, obedient even to the point of death (Phil. 2:5-8).

Hour by hour, a servant's focus is very limited. Servants listen for
directions, and they do exactly what their boss expects. In the
longer term, servants know why they are working: because they have a
master who has called them to service.

We are meant to be servants of God.

Listen to your Boss, he'll tell you what to do. Believe in your
vocation because you know who called you to it. And do your work
because God is behind it.

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Get Your Attitude Right, by Tim Stafford
Copyright (c) 2001 - 2006 H. E. Butt Foundation. All rights reserved.
Faith in the Workplace

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From: jgat777@globelines.com.ph