The next step
- At October 29, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Reaching your carefully chosen career destination will often involve taking 10,000 or so small, make that very small, steps. The distance is just too great for most mere mortals to make in a single bound.
Oh, it would be nice to wake up one morning and discover that aside from winning the lottery, loosing 50 pounds, and becoming fluent in French, etc. you had also magically acquired your desired career. But down here on Earth…things don’t usually work out that way. So in order to take the next step it is necessary to identify the steps you have already taken, and hence the next appropriate step to take.
If you are feeling lost in life it is that much more important to slow down and try to determine where you are at in relationship to where you want to be. A mall style mental map with nice bright letters indicating “You are Here” could come in handy while trying to escape from your career wilderness. Similarly, picturing a GPS system tracking some poor soul spinning in circles year after year could provide the much-needed inspiration to stop. Which reminds me that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same predictable and unsuccessful result.
Being busy, even if this just means aimlessly running here and there, can suggest a sense of direction and accomplishment – from a distance. Some people may lack in direction what they make up for in speed and still live out their days being constantly affirmed by casual acquaintances. And yet what good is all the activity if it just means going nowhere in particular really fast?
It may be tempting for some reading this to mistakenly assume, employing religious language, that neglecting their own responsibility is somehow synonymous with trusting in God. But this isn’t an either/or situation it is rather both/and. Confidence in God, in Christ, is critical along life’s way and so is a Christian-based emphasis on personal initiative. Those who make a point of not planning will, in all likelihood, just find that they are eventually forced to plug themselves into somebody else’s plan.
So where are you at right now? Lacking a clear vision of your destination? Unclear exactly where you are along the way? Why not take an hour or even a whole day in the not-to-distant future to sit down and carefully consider your next step.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Paradise lost
- At October 10, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
If only everything in life was easy. This longing for a less difficult life and a much improved world is wide-spread. Talk to anyone for a length of time and you will hear stories of hurt and hardship. Wealth and power does make a world of difference, but even then life is hard in one way or another – for everyone.
This world is just not the way it should be; paradise is but a memory. And as you work towards a more suitable career, it is important to keep this simple, basic reality in mind. For an unrealistically positive view of life is just as damaging as a chronically negative one. Neither will prepare you to live in the world that actually exists.
A few words of caution:
First of all, don’t expect that your life dreams and career aspiration will necessarily just fall into place. It is much better to anticipate struggles, difficulties, setbacks, conflict, and hard work than to expect an easy road. Sure, take one day at a time; but also be prepared for what you may have to face each day.
Second, don’t expect God to always directly intervene in this broken world to make your life easier. It is a sensitive thing to even mention, but asking God not to let any of your loved ones ever die is a waste of time. They will and so will you. That is life. God may on occasion choose to answer our large requests…but He doesn’t have to. You could be unfairly fired and find yourself without a job for a long period of time. Don’t blame God. That’s life.
Third, try to respect God’s sovereignty and your own. Make a point of trying to manage your life under God. This is a phrase I have used before in order communicate the importance of taking appropriate responsibility for our own lives. We want to have it both ways sometimes. We want to have the freedom and power to do whatever we want and, at the same time, to be protected from the consequences of our poor decisions.
Being satisfied with this world as it is would be a mistake. And yet, sooner or later we all have to learn how to live in it.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.