You are reading the FRACAT Blog Archive (also known as "FRACAT 1.0") for all posts prior to October 29th, 2007.
Is Your Character Showing?
When I was all young and idealistic (obviously before I became a recruiter), I figured the people that I worked with would work hard, tell the truth, and do whatever was necessary to earn the money that they were paid for their jobs.
The intervening years have disabused me of that notion.
One thing that I haven’t lost is the idealism of “How a Christian Should Act”. While I now realize that we’re all going to screw up and act in a way unbecoming our Father from time to time, that doesn’t change the general standard for “How To Act”, whether in the workplace or not.
HOW DO WE ACT AT WORK?
For instance, I’ve been surprised when it’s come up that some of my co-workers in the past are Christians. These are some of the same people who did their work (intentionally) half-fast, played politics with other peoples’ careers, and stolen from the company in various ways.
I was shocked. And then I hoped that both I didn’t act that way and people didn’t see my true character that way. But I knew that they did.
HOW DO WE ACT WHEN WE’RE OUT OF WORK?
While all of these things revealed the character of a person, nothing really cuts through the masks that we all put on like being out of work. That’s when we know what our true character really is.
Think back to the last time you were without a job (that may be right now). Did you do things that you wouldn’t “normally” do? Things that you aren’t very proud of and would rather “leave in the past”, never to see them again?
I’ve got some bad news learned from personal experience: First, what you saw when you were laid off was your true character with all of the niceties pulled away. Second, that character is going to continue to show itself (though more subtly) until you deal with it. You probably have “slipped” and showed that character at work, haven’t you?
I know I have.
No big preachiness here today - just some advice to go to God and work with Him to get your character right. He’s the only one that can do it.
Enjoy the Search
-Dan
Photo by: The Plunkmaster
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July 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I find that I do things I wouldn’t “normally” when I’m frustrated at not being able to do the things I would like. Sometimes that’s just the cycle, and as you said, you learn a lot from those experiences.