01 Apr Let’s Go and Wait – Apr 14

By Robert Tanurahardja

Living in the world where it is driven by merits and performance to succeed, it is so easy to fall into popular perception that we have failed if we do not receive any pay-rise after working for 2 years or even maybe after just 1 year. I mean, what are the measures to prove that we are doing well in our career? Is it pay-rise? Or is it a promotion? These are good indicators in our career, but we often become too focused on getting the indicator and lose the whole meaning on the journey.

I am writing to those who have fight honestly, earnestly and wholeheartedly in their work. You do not mind if you stay until late in the office, skip your lunch breaks to get some more jobs done or maybe even spending only 2 or 3 hours a day to see your children. Do not get me wrong, you may still have put your family above career in your order of priorities, but you know that sometimes in your life, you need to make a sacrifice for a greater good. You have now placed your number one as number two. You persevere and faithful to the small thing day by day. And then you finally get the promotion. You now feel that all your hardworks and sacrifices pay-offs. You are happy and you make your family proud.

But then, promotion does not come single handed. With greater pay grade comes greater responsibility. The indicator to our good career suddenly brings more deadlines to chase, more personalities to manage and more stress. Suddenly you realise that the slope is not getting any flatter. Are we ready yet for this?

Believe it or not, this happens to a lot of people in our generation. A recent research by Australia Institute on 1400 Australian workers found that many of the workers skipped their lunch breaks. If extrapolated out toAustralia’s workforce, there are 3.8 million Australians who skipped their lunch breaks to get work done. Around 50% of those who regularly skipped lunch told the institute that the reason for this behaviour is because they are “too busy”.  Skipping lunch breaks can be an indicator of many things. However, if we think that by staying at our desk and working through lunch breaks would provide prove to your managers that we are a committed person, we may have fallen into the trap.

Promotion is a good thing, but let us pursue it not. Happiness can be achieved but it can easily be gone. But Joy should never depart from our heart. For we know that His vision that He planted in our hearts will wait its appointed time and it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; It will surely come; It will not delay.

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Reference:

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/leadership/management/34321-nearly-four-million-australians-regularly-skip-their-lunch-break-why-it-s-a-bad-thing-and-what-you-can-do-about-it.html#