Employment as a Spiritual Practice
This article is an edited summary of the following talk I gave on June 6, 2019, in St. Joseph, Michigan.
https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/employment-as-a-spiritual-practice
Regardless of what other people do or think or what the world tells me I should be doing, do I have the courage to live my core values in every area of my life? Do you?
Most of us focus in the workplace mainly as a means of gaining financial growth, gaining power through politics and personal aggrandizement, and set aside our desire for personal and spiritual connection thinking that spiritual practice doesn’t belong there. But we have opportunities, maybe even a duty to make our employment another venue to practice personal and spiritual growth.
I was fired from a job where I made more money than I ever had but where I was unhappy. I felt pressure to participate in mildly unethical practices and was working 50-60 hour weeks. I felt obligated to work more under the assumption that eventually I would be rewarded. Then I took another job thinking it would be different and it was the same thing. Facing unemployment I felt that I was either a victim or a failure. I had thought that if I worked in jobs at mission-driven organizations, the mission should be enough and that sacrificing my time, life balance, and a healthy amicable workplace was the price I had to pay to be “successful”. I was wrong.
Through this experience I learned 3 things:
When I view my work-life as a game to be won, I lose.
When I am not consistently living my values at work AND outside of work, I’m not who I say I am and that makes me miserable.
When I think that my work-life defines me or defines my personal worth, I feel worthless.
Subsequently, I’ve identified 3 key Spiritual Practices for me that have transformed my work-life:
1. Don’t make important life decisions based mostly on money, power or prestige.
We know we shouldn’t do this in romantic relationships, with our children, or in connecting to our chosen spiritual practice - why would I do this at work? After my job honestly meets my basic financial needs, what do I make decisions based on? My values: Work-life balance, feeling challenged and useful, liking what I do every day, and the opportunity for personal growth. I suggest you get clear on what your values are and start making decisions based on those.
2. Practice humility.
For me this means being willing to honestly admit promptly and without shame when I am wrong. I also have to allow others the right to be wrong sometimes. It means being willing to listen to and learn from everyone regardless of how old they are, what title they have, where they sit in the hierarchy, or how much I personally like them. How many of us have a friend group at work and champion our friends ideas in a meeting; but then when the person I don't really like very much comes up with a good idea, do I act the same way?
It also means being willing to stand up and speak out when I believe something is wrong or unethical without being overbearing or self-righteous. Can I walk the walk without needing to be the star? If I want my employees and my boss to be professional and trustworthy and healthy, I have to show up to work and be that.
3. Get a life.
There is a scientific explanation for this if you need proof: The frontal lobe of the human brain is responsible for reasoning, planning, decision-making, and judgment. These networks work for you in creative ways when the brain is quiet, not while you are effortfully trying to find a solution to a problem. This is one reason that sleep and rest and play are so important in our lives. So I pause periodically, take a walk or a deep breath and ask for time off when I need it. No shame or guilt, because what I am doing is actually making myself a better performer at work. Working 60 hour weeks do not make you a better employee. Additionally, when work is over, I GO HOME! I cultivate friendships, go do fun things, have a hobby. When I have a life, my job doesn’t define me as a person and I don’t take things too seriously. I have better things to occupy myself than whatever some other person is doing or not doing at work. I stay in my lane.
Paradoxically, when I practice these spiritual principles in my work life, I gain more meaning and satisfaction out of every part of my life. When I am willing to stand for my principles and act based on my personal values, and not on whom I think others want me to be, I gain a sense of true belonging. I am so grateful for being fired because I never would have left that job on my own. Because of that experience, I had the opportunity to become the person I actually want to be.