DON'T DROWN IN YOUR WORK

Do you ever feel that your work-life is like a small ship being tossed about in ever increasing waves? You don't have to go down with the ship; you can take control of your course.

Get a life. Don't let your job possess you. Find interests outside of work. Get involved in your church or community organizations. Find places in your life in which people are not potential customers, colleagues, or competitors.

Remember the Sabbath. Take a day of rest, replenishment, and re-souling. Re-connect with God as you worship Him and leave the remainder of the day void of work. Don't see the day as wasted or inefficient but as nourishing for the soul and body.

Pray daily. Pray before your day starts, asking God to help you focus on what lies ahead, and thanking Him for all the blessings He has given to you. Ask for help and support in times of crisis and challenge, and wisdom in showing kindness in your work. Pray for your co-workers, your boss, and your customers.

Don't define yourself by your job or career. Get over the concept of a hierarchy of professions. Focus on the dignity of all individuals - whether they be a manual laborer or neurosurgeons. See yourself in your job as furthering God's Kingdom here on earth.

Accept failure on the path to success. The career path is not often straight. Sometimes it's crooked, with false starts, fitful stops, and detours. Quit judging yourself by your accomplishments. Sometimes failure is part of the game plan.

Stop trying to be perfect. Most professionals believe they have to be omniscient and omnipotent in their work. Only God is God. The rest of us are only human, and human is not so bad. No one wants to commit errors in their work, but in certain professions the price for perfectionism can be the suppression of creativity and the beginning of pride.

Accept limits and boundaries. The cellular phone, the laptop computer, pagers, and voice mail can make private time collapse and private space shrink. They give you a work-world without limits and ultimately give you an inner life that's cramped and narrow. Create boundaries of time, effort, and aspiration.

Make room for God in your success: bring in a partner. You didn't get to where you are without skill, luck, patience, fortitude, loyal customers, and faithful clients. But don't forget to credit the one force that is above and behind everything that you do: God.

Jeffrey K. Salkin, spiritual leader of The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, N.Y., earned a Doctor of Ministry degree at Princeton Theological Seminary and teaches in Hebrew Union College's Doctor of Ministry program. He has lectured in Jewish theology at Molloy College and taught rabbinic literature at Hebrew Union College. He is the author of Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah.

Excerpt from Being God's Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link Between Spirituality and Your Work by Jeffrey K. Salkin (Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights Publishing, 1994). $16.95 + $3.50 s/h. Order by mail or call 1-800-962-4544. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091.

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