A recurring theme
during a recent visit to the Philippines has been that of understanding that people with
business and technical skills have much to offer in service to God's kingdom.
This requires taking time to develop those skills for a specific purpose. Paul
challenged the Ephesians to commit to "making the most of your time,
because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16). It made me think of one
person's definition of evil: it corrupts the good. When it comes to being
fruitful in the workplace, we face a similar prospect: we can fritter the time
away on what is adequate but not the best for us. Christians, in particular,
are called to bear fruit in the workplace (Ephesians 6:5-9) because that's how
we earn the right to be heard on Gospel matters.
You may have heard
of the 10,000 hours rule.
That's what Malcolm
Gladwell popularized as the time you have to spend in deliberate practice
to master something. Are you a violinist? If you want to play at Carnegie Hall,
you have to put in 10,000 hours of practice to get to that level of mastery.
Are you a chess player? A football quarterback? Same thing. 10,000 hours to
achieve the potential you were born with.
Even if you disagree
with Gladwell's argument, you probably agree with its basis, that you
need to develop your skills to reach the potential you were born with.
Enter another set of
numbers. Productivity
improvements have reduced the work week from 70 hours in 1870 to 40 hours in
2000, a 30 hour decrease. What are we doing with that time? We watch television
for 28 hours per week. In other words, the four hours per day returned to
us through a reduced work week has been reinvested into four hours per day
watching television, or so the argument goes.
What are we doing
with our time? Here are a few resources to get you started:
MOOCS for learning
As you explore,
you'll find many more resources you can use to develop your skills.
Don't be afraid to
pay for training that leads to enhanced skills. The training you pay for will
include hands on instruction and activities to help you internalize your newly
learned skills. Such training is less costly than a degree, focuses on specific
skills you're targeting, and gives you something valuable with which to impact
your organization.
