Are You Too Stressed and Unhappy at Work?
Posted: Friday, November 28, 2008
by Mr. Rick
CR&K Enterprises
Are you unhappy and stressed at work? Are the hours too long and the work overloaded? Is your boss hard to get along with? Are your employees too self focused? Do you constantly have to motivate those under your charge to get productivity out of them? If you answered yes to any of the above, maybe I can make a suggestion.
There are plenty of work better gurus who will give you all kinds of ideas about how to work more productive and be happier in your work. They have great suggestions and if you do them you will probably improve your production. I am writing this article to address overall work satisfaction. A word of caution is needed here. I am speaking to a target audience. If you do not have a relationship with Christ Jesus, you will probably not find my suggestion very helpful. If you do have a relationship with Christ Jesus you will find you can improve that relationship as well as improve your overall job satisfaction.
I own a large mobile home park and some residential house rentals. In total I deal with close to 200 units. This means I have daily contact with a lot of people, who have problems they want me to solve. These problems range from money, plumbing, electrical, neighbor, home security, and even family relational issues. I use to look at it as being the mayor of a small city.
This is a lot of pressure on a person. It affected every area of my life. I hated my job. My wife and I had problems that were going to end in divorce. My kids were even becoming a real burden to me. I had no money yet I was working 7 days a week. All of these burdens can crush a man.
Things started to change the day I decided to stop putting myself first. One of the biggest changes was my job satisfaction. It changed because I began to see what I mean to my residents and my employees rather than what they mean to me. I put them ahead of myself. I began to be that problem solver and helped my residents with their issues. I began to look at my employee's total life and how I could help. I saw how their problems at home affected work. I was not just their boss or landlord, I became their friend too.
It is all about perspective. My perspective changed to one focused on the needs of others instead of what I needed only. I began to intentionally see others ahead of myself. God created me with certain talents and abilities I am good at. When He saved me, these abilities became gifts to be used to make others lives better. The Holy Spirit helps me through the use of these gifts to become a gift to others. As you can guess all areas of my life became much improved. I now see myself not as a mayor of a small city but rather a pastor of a large church. My marriage has become divorce proof. My boys now see a father that they can emulate.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Fantastic, I too wished I had learned that lesson sooner than later. But once I put God first my attitude on everything changed. A good worker, became a great one, a co-worker became a friend, life at home got so much better, and I am happier because of it. Thanks for sharing....Thank you for reading and commenting. May you have a good weekend.God bless you.Rick
Pastor Rick, umm Mr. Rick (smile), a compelling testimony! What you have done as a spiritual guru is found in Colossians 3:23 but 24 & 25 are good to know, too. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.(NIV)
Have you read Laurie Beth Jones' book, Jesus CEO? I recommend it. It's been out for more than 10 years 'cause I was still living in FL when I read it.
Congratulations on allowing Him to save your life. Your business, marriage, kids, employees, customers . . . all salvaged by your choices! (Makes me wanna shout, "Hallelujah!") Ok, I did!
Take care,
AvisThank you Avis for reading and shouting. No I have not read that one. I will see if I can find it online.God bless you.Rick
Hi, Rick,I'm shouting with Avis! What a wonderful turnaround! And God wants us to let Him help us do this all the time! I am so glad you wrote this article! You expressed the situation, the problems, attitudes, and changes very well. I was following all of it with interest. So glad for the good report in this article, not only for employees but also for couples and families.Thank you Jane for reading and commentingMay God bless youRick
Hi I am grateful to the Lord for your testimony. I am an English as a foreign language teacher in Colombia, South America. I feel so down because my time seems to slip between my fingers when I want to get down to work. Your advice to put others first, in this case my students seems like the godly thing to do. I really think by doing that in obedience of scripture I could begin to be a better worker. Thanks for sharing your testimony.In ChristFernandoFernando,I am so glad you liked what I wrote. Put it into practice and then let me know how it goes.Rick
Help me man. Help me. I read this and have read those scriptures you referenced. I am a college graudate with a degree I don't know if I have ever put to use. I am in a job right now where I make a nice living that helps pay the bills to a degree but find myself sometimes living paycheck to paycheck. I fill very unfulfilled. My life in major areas, feels unfufilled. I do offer these things in prayer. Right now I am just in a job where I find myself frustrated to find myself doing the work that I do. I sit at my desk all day, at the corporate office, helping store associates get their computers working and help solve other errors. It can get so stressful and frustrating some days because I just don't know what I'm doing here. This comment may seem a little all over the place but I did enjoy your post. I've just been so stressed today with life and I need to contact someone, somehow.Ryan I understand your place where you are right now. It is not a great place to be. It sounds like you are helping people in your job. It also appears you are focus more on the future and what you want to be doing instead of on what you are doing today. When you are helping people you are not thinking of yourself, you are solving their issues. In a Christ centered life that is where you will find satisfaction in your work. In Galations 2:20 it says "I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, and this life I live in the flesh I live in faith in Jesus who loved me and gave himself for me". You may not see how God is using your life right now but I pray that you will as time passes. We cannot go wrong when we seek to Love God First and our neigbor as ourselves.
Mr. Rick
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