Career is so overrated

Why do you go to school? Why do you work at the job you work at? I find myself often unconsciously schooling and working so that I can get into that career I want to get into. And I supsect that once one is in his desired career, it is very tempting to go to work every day to get the promotion and the raise.

We moderns like productivity; we value efficiency (often even worship it!). When we meet someone new, one of the first questions we ask is "What do you do for a job?" And of course what else would we ask?! Well, as Robert Hadas observes in his provactive new book Human Goods, Economic Evils,

“…higher concerns made premodern societies economically conservative—they often rejected innovations which would lead to better labor and greater consumption in order to preserve what they perceived to be higher goods of culture and religion. In modern societies, however, the current social order is more often sacrificed for the sake of a greater economic mastery. Indeed, one of the marks of industrial economics is a shift in the balance—to a greater acceptance of the economically efficient and better and to less loyalty to the socially established and virtuous” (70-71).

Premoderns knew better than we do that economic life should be subordinated to the higher things of life. For moderns, however, career defines people. We increasingly find our identity in our career. Thus, the high school grades, the college degree, the master’s studies, the internship, the low-level job, the management-level job are often done out of the hope that we will advance in our desired career. But is career really the end-all and the be-all? As Mother Theresa reminded us, “God has not called us to be successful, but faithful.”

Career is not so important as attention to the really human things of life: loving, creating, caring, giving. Attention to the Good, the True, and the Beautiful is infinitely more important than scoring that great job. Jobs are good; but being human is even more important.

So here’s a wild idea: perhaps loving your roommate, next-door neighbor, coworker, boss, sibling, parent, friend, spouse is more important than getting a great job. And here’s a challenge: when you’re at your job tomorrow, stop and think about the significance of your work. Ask yourself, “Is what I am making of any truly good benefit to man?” Or “does this service really and truly help my fellow man. Does it not help just his body but his soul?” Why shouldn’t we ask those questions? If it is a terrifying question, I suspect it is only because we would find that so many of our jobs are not so important. If you cannot conceive of any possible way how your job is not serving your fellow man, ask God to show you how you can. And ask people whom you respect for ideas on how to do that. If you still find that your job isn't serving people in any meaningful way, drop it. Find another job. If it is really true that the soul is more important than the body, then why do we not think about the effects that our daily work has on the souls of people (and on our soul)?

Now we must always remember: work is beautiful and good. This is not a diatribe on work. Indeed, in our work we can do one of the most human things of life: create, make, produce. But we should always subordinate our career, our job to the really important things. So long as we do our work simply to earn the paycheck, or simply to pay the bills, or to put food on the table, or to advance to the "better" position, we are missing out on just how beautiful work can be.

Career is overrated. Faithfulness is what matters. Love God, love people. In all your typing, reading, writing, teaching, playing, eating, talking, producing, serving--in all these things, pay attention to the important things of life.