You have learned skills and gained experience on your jobs that have proven very beneficial to your career, and those skills and abilities have been an important part of your growth. Just stop and think about how your jobs have taught you many skills and made you more productive and confident. I think in the midst of hectic schedules and deadlines and difficulties, it’s easy to overlook the many good things you’re learning and ways you’re growing simply by doing your job each day.

In addition, think about the many life and relationship skills you are learning, even while you’re in it. It may seem more like baptism by fire rather than a training experience. Here are some examples of the practical and important things you should be learning in a job, if indeed you’re doing a good job. You learn:

The importance of being on time.

The importance of meeting deadlines.

How to work with a team to accomplish a task.

How critical it is to fulfill your promises and commitments.

That it’s very important to do everything with excellence and avoid do-overs!

That procrastination is deadly.

That you can’t afford to let things fall between the cracks.

Those are just some of the practical things you learn when you accept the responsibility of a job. For sure a job well-done will require these kinds of skills. And if you are not willing to learn these things and grow in these areas, it will affect your progress, your promotions, and your paycheck; it will hold you back.

I would ask you to survey your work habits. Are you learning these things, or are you resisting them? Have you established a reputation within your organization of being truly committed to doing your job with excellence, to improving and learning and growing? I’ve often said a Christ-follower may not be the smartest or the most educated or the most experienced person on their job, but they can be the most dependable, the hardest worker, and have the highest level of integrity. No matter what you do or where God takes you, these characteristics will always be important to your success and to pleasing God.