Job-related stress is tough on singles

Singles are not immune from job-related stress.

We may not have a family to support, but we still have all the financial responsibilities that come with running a household. What's more, we're a one-income household, without a second paycheck to fall back on should we lose our job.

Some workplace stress comes from management's neverending quest to do more, faster, with fewer employees. Computerization has helped, but the truth is that human beings can only work so fast. We have to provide information and perform activities on a computer, and often the computer has to wait for us.

If a person's all-out, fastest typing speed is 60 words per minute, it doesn't matter that the computer is able to process a million words a minute.

Stress rolls downhill

Business owners, supervisors and managers tend to pass stress down to their subordinates. You'd think after all these years that someone would figure out that threatening people doesn't make them more productive.

Pushing employees to their limits is at an all-time high. In tragic cases where a worker gets a gun and murders his supervisor and several colleagues, it's because that person was pushed beyond his breaking point. That certainly doesn't excuse workplace violence, but it may explain it.

Quotas have to be met. Things are moving faster than ever. Individuals carry heavy responsibilities. A demanding tone or word from a boss can make you feel that your job is at stake.

You may be doing the best you can, yet it still isn't good enough. Then what do you do?

Where does God fit in?

As Christians, we're called to respond as Jesus would. Yet we're still human. Our patience is limited. We feel stressed out just like our coworkers do.

We need to keep reminding ourselves that God is with us, protecting us. That doesn't give us license to slack off, but rather it gives us a resource that nonbelievers don't have. God answers our prayers for creativity, patience, and calmness.

We can take a deep breath, take a silent prayer break, and ask God to help us make the best use of the talents he's given us.

When we get anxious, God is always peaceful. When we're afraid, he's our strength and protector. God is never rushed. As believers, we can ask the Holy Spirit to give us a calm, confident attitude in spite of job-related stress.

Be a wise steward

With corporate bankruptcies, downsizing, and international competition, the business climate is more uncertain than ever. This tension affects everyone in the company. We see friends and relatives losing their jobs and wonder if we'll be next.

One way to reduce job-related stress is to build up a savings account. Being a good steward of your money means saving for an emergency.

This is hard to do but has such enormous benefits that you simply can't put it off. Knowing that you have enough money to carry you until you find a new job is immensely empowering.

If you commit to saving for your future and ask God to help you, you'll be surprised how he changes your attitude toward "stuff" you thought you couldn't live without. Surprise! You can live without it.

A heavy load of debt can add to your job-related stress, too. It makes the stakes higher if you lose your job.

Whittling down your debt and building up your savings will go a long way toward easing your stressed out feelings.

Your best is your best

When I was a little boy, only 9 or 10 years old, worried about a test at school, my Dad once said to me, "As long as you do your best, we'll always be proud of you."

God is saying the same thing to you today.

One of the hallmarks of Christian integrity is that we always give our employer our best effort. We earn our pay. We're conscientious. We do everything in our personal power to help the company succeed.

When you do that--when you honestly do that--going home at night knowing that you couldn't have done any more, God is proud of you.

An unfair boss may berate you, threaten you, or demand that you do more than you're capable of, but in the end, you can only do your best.

When you do your best, job-related stress takes on a different tone. When we do our best, we can trust God that he will work things out.

Sometimes people who do give it their best get laid off. That happened to me. But God helped me find another job and helped me put my life back together again

Be a wise steward of your money. Be a hard worker. Do your job to the best of your ability.

If you give your employer the same effort you would give God if you were working directly for him, God will always find work for you to do. Knowing that will go a long way toward helping you handle your job-related stress.

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How your sense of humor can put life back into perspective...

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A crucial lesson about jobs

Your employer would like you to believe that your job is the most important thing in your life. It isn't.

Don't get me wrong. We owe our employer our best effort, our concentration, and our honesty. But we don't owe him our life.

It took me years to understand that. Maybe you don't yet. That's just one of the hard-won life lessons you'll discover in my ebook, Single & Sure.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way, about my job and about life. But I learned important lessons from every one of them, and I share them with you so you don't have to take the same time-wasting, emotional detours I made.

This ebook is an investment in your future happiness. I'm so confident you'll find it worthwhile that it comes with a moneyback guarantee. Ever see that on a book in a bookstore?

This is the real stuff. Check out the contents of Single & Sure.

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