I Let My Job Define Too Much of Me... How About You?
Dec 20, 2019
It Took a Storyteller Consultant for Me Realize I Had Something Powerful to Tell You Today
I have been asked to speak next year at the annual meeting of an association of Presidents of Christian colleges and universities around the world. They want me to talk about our research and ways of helping their students understand themselves better, how to develop the gifts God has given them, the state of Christianity among college students, and what careers match the aptitudes, personality and interests of their students.
I want to be a better speaker for them and God’s glory, and I know that storytelling is a powerful tool in getting points across and helping people see applications in real life. Also, it will help them stay awake! 😊 So, I engaged one of the world’s best storyteller consultants, and her coaching revealed many things in my life. In one case, I had let parts of my job define me way too much and actually deferred my conversion to Christianity.
My Realization About the Stumbling Block Between Jesus and Me
A big part of my job was to get publicity for my former company. As its CEO, I often became part of the publicity, and it was fun to talk to reporters from national and international publications about the innovative things we were doing. There were magazine cover stories, my daughter found in internet research six books that had mentioned me, one trade magazine named me one of the six “Movers and Shakers” in my industry, and more. Without me realizing it, the stories that were meant to promote the company started promoting me. That’s not the worst of it.
Frankly, I was getting some major adrenaline rushes when The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets quoted me in their articles. This part of my job was beginning to define much of who I was and what drove me. Yikes! On the positive side, we were getting a lot of clients but more than we could handle. So, I had to stop doing the publicity work. Fortunately, I was able to take heed of how I was feeling without the highs I’d been getting, and I realized that I was driven by and depending upon these adrenaline rushes. Worse, I realized that I had a huge hole that I was asking the temporary highs to fill. Ultimately and years later, I realized that I WAS ASKING ADRENALINE-PRODUCING EXPERIENCES TO FILL THE HOLE THAT ONLY CHRIST CAN FILL. Thankfully one day in April 2008, he did fill it. With the Storytelling Coach request to remember some of my past, this part of my life came rushing back producing winces and thankfulness plus a desire to tell you how to avoid my mistake.
Learn from My Mistake. Don’t Let It Happen to You!
While my example may feel like an extreme one, it is only extreme in what was producing the adrenaline. Some of us try to stay super busy to feel important. Some managers don’t want to delegate because they want people to have to come to them. Some parents want their children to do more than one activity at a time with all the taxing and other associated time consumers. Some people even let the results of football games define them in some way.
There are many examples of busyness and idol worshipping, but they all end with some area or activity taking a disproportionate amount of our lives away from family, friends, health, mission, money, rest, and especially faith. Our work is meant to glorify God, not glorify ourselves as I was letting it. If you can, do an inventory of activities that may have become your idols. When, not if, you find them, do what you can to put them in their proper, God-glorifying place and time of the day - maybe even eliminate them. I’m going to start implementing my own advice starting tomorrow!
Merry Christmas, and may we not let what has become a busy time cause us to forget why we celebrate this time of year.
Charlie Haines
