Keep Your Chin Up

 

Spring-Is-Sure-To-Follow

SPRING! It’s a new season. Beautiful colors are coming back into the landscape. Trees have green leaves again, and flowers are blooming. Soon the grass will need mowing again.   grass_border_3    Oh, maybe you didn’t want to be reminded of that!

Has it been a long winter for you? Have you faced more obstacles than opportunities lately? Are you tired? Is it hard to keep going to class and to complete your assignments each week?

Take a deep breath and remember why you are on this journey. You are in school to reach an educational goal you have set for yourself. You and many other students can get discouraged during the challenging times. Remind yourself of the reward at the end of the race.

Keep your focus on the finish line! diploma

KEEP YOUR CHIN UP!

“Let your eyes look directly ahead and

let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.”

Proverbs 4:25-26

Keep Your Chin Up

Why Learning to Work with Younger Generations is so Important

Working Together

Why Learning to Work with Younger Generations is so Important

Did you know that there are four generations in the workplace? That’s right! There are, and if you want to have a satisfying career, you have to learn how to work well with all of them. This can be challenging for many professionals. Why? Because each generation has a different way of looking at work and a different definition of accountability. This is causing a lot of friction between “old schoolers” and “new schoolers,” which can be detrimental to both your work relationships and productivity.

As a seasoned worker who’s had many years of experience in your field, it can be tough to watch someone straight out of college excel in front of your eyes, and it can be easy to shut down new, innovative ideas with the excuse “We’ve always done it this way.” What you might not realize, though, is that the frustration you’re feeling is being projected to your co-workers, especially those who you feel are overstepping their professional boundaries. You look intimidating to them, and instead of seeing you as a helpful resource, they see you as the grumpy, old co-worker who has a huge problem adjusting to the times. Your fellow employees aren’t the only ones who see you this way; employers will too, and this is where you run into further issues. If you allow this negative attitude to interfere with your work, people will notice, and trust me, it’s a bad look for you. It hurts your professional brand immensely and makes it harder for you to advance.

Organizations want professionals who are excited and willing to collaborate with employees of all ages because, in the end, it doesn’t matter how old you are – the only thing that matters is that you do a great job while working collaboratively with others.

-Wilbert C. Bryant, Jr.

The Wise Man

The Wise Man

Proverbs 17:10 advises that a reproof has more effect on a wise man than a severe beating has on a foolish man.

Each time I drop my (perfect, beautiful, intelligent) teenaged daughter at school, my parting words for her are “Love you! Remember, obey God and make good decisions today.” She smiles, rolls her eyes (she has heard it a thousand times) and jumps out to escape any more of Dad’s sage advice. And as she walks away, I silently pray that she will indeed live wisely.

I wish that I could report that I have learned and routinely practice the proverb I referenced above. Alas, too often while considering myself wise I do the most foolish things! And yes, life has a way of beating me up when I behave foolishly. I can look back on my life and see just a few key decisions that, had I chosen wisely, would have chartered a more fruitful course for me.

I suppose one of the greatest lessons in wisdom I have had to accept is that God puts people in my life to help me along the path of wisdom. My foolish pride has kept me from hearing their wisdom from time to time, but as I get older I am beginning to be able to hear. Oh that I would have heeded them as a young man! “Too soon old, too late wise.” NOW I get it!

I expected my mentors to be bigger than life, like in the movies. If God had put a Master Yoda or a Gandalf or perhaps a Lion King along my path I might (might!) have listened. But instead He put parents, siblings, friends, elders, bosses, coworkers, and especially teachers.

Teachers? I knew that teachers helped me gain knowledge, certainly, but wisdom?

And then I remembered all of the times I have reacted badly to a grade or corrective input regarding my schoolwork. “This isn’t fair! I turned in all of my work—where’s my ‘A’?” “How DARE he/she put that much red ink on my essay? Teacher just doesn’t like me…” and on and on, etc. etc. etc.

Yet, in all honesty, I learn more from my mistakes than from my successes. Having an instructor hurt my feelings and destroy my ego with a bunch of red ink made me a better writer, a more earnest critical thinker, a more studious student. Could it be that God placed that instructor in that classroom to reprove me? And, in so doing, he or she imparted something magical?

Proverbs 10:17 instructs me that he who heeds instruction is on the path of life. I like that. More importantly, I NEED that. In a world of darkness and death, someone who cares enough to impart life in the form of reproof is a gift from on high.

So, ego and hurt feelings notwithstanding, I strive to embrace wisdom. As the writer of proverbs stated so eloquently, I need to seek wisdom with all of my heart, shouting aloud for it and digging deep like searching for hidden treasure. And maybe take the advice of the wise ones God has blessed me with!

And so, if you encounter me from time to time with a bleeding ego, bruised feelings, or grousing about the injustice of the latest correction God has brought into my life, just remember (and maybe remind me) that God and His appointed teachers are molding me into a wise man.

 

Master Yoda