ATLANTA, GA - I'm probably going to lose half my readers with this post, but whatever. Life's about choices.
I'm in the process of having my document "97 Job Search Tips" distributed by a prestigious publisher. At the end of the document, there's a final note about humility. My views on humility are distinctly religious, or more correctly mono-theistic. Monotheism means a belief in one God. Jews are monotheistic. So are Muslims. As are we Christians. All due respect to Hindus.
The editor wants me to water it down a bit. I say okay, but if you want to get drunk, the best way is to drink your whiskey straight. My point in stumping for humility isn't to convert. Humility is a survival mechanism, and that's of deadly importance for job seekers. Click here and scroll to the end of the document to read the passage. I don't mess around, baby.
Keeping it Real
Every day I make it a point to spend a half hour or so with anyone who calls me for career advice. Call me and I'm very likely to put aside what I'm doing right then and give you 30 minutes of my time. Try me.
None of my (totally unqualified) "coaching" is religious. However, I might really resent it on your behalf if I sense that you are being bullied by someone, and you just might hang up the phone equally pissed off and very fired up to make some changes in your life.
Many of my callers are down on their luck. They are getting their teeth kicked in by a long, hard job search. Right now I can name half a dozen very solid executives who have been laid off and are staring straight down the barrel of personal bankruptcy. I can relate. In 2002, I was in their shoes. Truly terrifying. I'll never forget it.
But during those trying times I learned that faith will get you through times with no money better than money will get you through times with no faith.
Why secular advice won't cut it.
The response of most self-help gurus towards anyone who's down-and-out is what you'd expect: Help yourself. I have listened to Tony Robbins' Personal Power like 40 times and I know what's in it. And the self-help mentality has seeped into just about every corner of our culture.
Tonight I saw Billy Crystal on Inside the Actor's Studio, and a student asked Mr. Crystal "What's the role of suffering in pursuit of one's craft?" Mr. Crystal responded, "You gotta really believe in yourself more than anything -- and you have to make every sacrifice for your craft."
Impotence vs. Omnipotence
"Believe in yourself more than anything??" That's rotten advice! Nobody's gonna effect serious personal change with that advice. It's completely impotent.
Here's why: When you are getting beaten up in your career, it's easy to hate yourself -- to think that somehow you don't "deserve" any better than what our zero-sum, culture-of-death society is allowing you to have. When the "self" in self-help is your greatest tormentor, you lie to yourself about your true potential -- which in reality is significantly greater than you can possibly imagine.
When you are your own worst bully
At times like this, if you are an atheist or an agnostic -- you're in trouble: There are no absolute Truths. Everything's relative. Your rudderlessness allows you to get tossed around like a cork on the ocean, drifting pointlessly to where ever the fickle current takes you. You feel helpless and out of control. So much for Personal Power.
Again, my point in saying this is not to convert you. It's merely to get you to see the practical value of believing in something greater than yourself. Victor Frankl (who's Jewish, btw) wrote about this after his internment in a Nazi concentration camp during world war two.
Sure, it's great to say "I believe in myself." But you are small and finite and you know it. God, on the other hand, is infinite. It is 10,000x easier to show up to work (or your job search) every day ready to glorify God with the gifts He has loaned you. There's nothing more noble than giving your best efforts for God's sake.
"The talent you have is God's gift to you. What you do with that talent is your gift to God." -- Red Skelton
Look, I'm a self-employed father of five. I do my job with five fingers and a damned telephone. No real assets whatsoever. Every day is another all-or-nothing tight-rope walk. Do you honestly think I could do that if all I had to rely on is my miserable self? Please.
Who on earth is Anthony T. Kronman?
Last Thursday I read a book review in the WSJ about Anthony Kronman's latest book Education's End. A former dean of Yale's law school, Dr. Kronman writes ...
"One cannot live a meaningful life unless there is something one is prepared to give it up for. Peoples' lives are therefore meaningful in proportion to their acknowledgment that there is something more important than the lives they are leading: something worth caring about in an ultimate way."
Or to paraphrase St. Teresa of Avila, "From the vantage point of Heaven, even the most miserable earthly job search can be seen as nothing more than one night in an inconvenient hotel."
Life's hard knocks become sanctifying when ...
... one realizes that this earthly existence is simply a means to an end (Heaven) rather than an end unto itself ("He who dies with the most toys wins."). In this way, in good times and bad, your life has an ultimate meaning. You become a channel for God's grace for yourself and for everyone else. And your harsh experience becomes the best teacher -- a light you can share with others, now and in the future.
What on earth could be more empowering than that?
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