Work Ethic

What is your work ethic?

I’m some crazy combination of Puritan work ethic, perfectionism, and workaholic. I find that it is really easy for me to get annoyed or irritated with people when it seems that they are goofing off.

I was thinking about this today. I don’t remember feeling this way when I was on salary. But today while I was working I was very hard I was aware that one of my co-workers wasn’t putting forth the same effort. My hard work was building our quantity of piecework. Our pay is based on piece production. She was/is going to earn based on the total—the total I worked hard to increased while she slogged through the day.

As I contemplated this I was reminded of the story that Jesus told about the landowner who hired workers. (See Matthew 20: 1-16)When I hired on I knew that the wage was $5.50. I knew that if we had high production days there was the possibility of bonuses. But I didn’t sign on for this job because of the money. Well, maybe a little.

I didn’t like feeling the way the scripture described the grumbly workers. Their theme song was “it’s not fair.” I hate that. I don’t want to sound like that.

So I stopped. It’s my choice, how I feel. I decided to choose to be happy that others were hired to work—whether they had the same work ethic as me or not.

I noticed another thing this afternoon. I was off to the side where I could watch the regular factory workers work. At times it almost seemed as if they were moving in slow motion. I felt an irritation rising within me. It was like, wait. I am working my butt off and only making a pittance compared to your wage that is at least twice as much as mine. It seemed that they justified their slower work pace this way: hey, I get $X whether I make 800 parts or 500 parts so why bust my butt? Excuse me?

Excuse me? That’s right. That’s the danger. I am blessed, totally blessed to be able to work. Drat that over-active work ethic. It impinges on my joy way too often. It pushes me to work harder, harder than I worked before, and harder than everyone around me.

To be very honest, going back to work has been a scary proposition for me. Prior to my crash and burn, I had worked myself to death. I was working two full-time jobs, being a mom, a wife, a housekeeper (of sorts), and a friend. I created a situation where I was working myself into a position of indispensability at my one job (the counseling one). My skills as a counselor and pastor/preacher or speaker were respected and requested. I had horrible boundaries. I had quit taking care of myself. I was all out for everybody else. It was the perfect set up for moral failure.

I put myself into counseling. I had a super therapist to start with. I worked hard on my issues. I needed to be sure that I knew how I got to there so that I would never go there again. One of the clear answers was to establish healthy boundaries. Easier said than done, especially for someone who is so prone to over indulging in the area of work.
So now I’m back to work full time. Last week I skipped lunch to be sure that we got a job done. When the day was over and I was able to reflect I saw how incredibly unhealthy that was! No more.

I guess that’s one of the reasons I write about work so much. I want to be sure to examine my motives and my actions. I want to be accountable. It means challenging a lot of the old messages, old habits. But in the end…it will be a good thing. I will still work hard, because that’s who and how I am. But I will do it in healthy, balanced, and responsible ways…by God’s grace and with his help!