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When You Work So Hard You Stop Enjoying the Work · The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You used to absolutely love your job.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday morning 12 electric staff meetings actually, believe it or not, they don't anymore, but they used to actually energize.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: And now I just didn't like your checking boxes.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're proving you're working hard enough, or at least trying to.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're trying to make sure that everyone sees your hours and your service and your dedication.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere along the way, the actual work lost its joy.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, maybe you're sitting in a totally joyless work situation today.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: If this sounds familiar, I'm glad you're here today because we're going to talk about it here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was reading a blog post by Chuck Lawless recently.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not following him, he has some great, great blog posts on church leadership.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's been doing this for years.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Incredible wisdom.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: But Chuck wrote this blog post specifically about workaholism, and it got me to thinking about something that we don't talk about often enough.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that this is really important and is what I want to talk about today.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I call it the performance trap.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing about working harder to prove yourself.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It actually kills the thing that you're trying to prove.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read that again.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: The thing about working harder to prove yourself is that a lot of times it actually kills the thing that you're trying to prove.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: You got into ministry because you love God and you love people, but now it seems like you're working to prove that you're valuable, that you can earn your keep around the church, to prove that you deserve your role or your title, to prove that you're not lazy, that you're not less than, that you're not a disappointment.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And when your work becomes about proving instead of loving, you're going to find that all the joy dies.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then it gets even a little trickier because you start measuring your worth by your output.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Did I post enough?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Did I preach well enough?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Did that sermon land?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Did I visit enough people?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Did I lead the staff well enough?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're exhausted.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're exhausted, but you can't stop because stopping feels like failing.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you've turned your calling into a performance review, probably the harshest per performance review you've ever given because you're giving it to yourself.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And what's even worse is you can't remember the last time that you actually enjoyed what you do.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ministry somewhere along the line became a treadmill where you're running faster and faster, but it just doesn't seem like you're getting anywhere.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your work ethic is not the problem.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart is in the right place.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The fix isn't working less, it's working from a different place.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to separate your identity from your productivity.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to separate your identity, who you are, from your productivity, what you do.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your value is not in how hard you work, it's in whose you are.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now you might say, Todd, that sounds like a cliche.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's the actual shift that has to happen in your soul, though.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: You need to ask yourself, would I still be doing this work if nobody was watching?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: If I didn't have to justify myself, if no one posted about it, if nobody thanked me for it, or if nobody even noticed, would I still do this work?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's where joy lives.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: In the work itself, not in the applause.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to give you something really kind of practical today, okay?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So what does this look like on a Tuesday or a Thursday or a Saturday?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Stop rehearsing your justifications.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: The mental list of everything you did this week, uh in case somebody asks you what you did this week.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The old joke is we know pastor only works on Sundays.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we take that a little bit too seriously, and we have this mental list of everything we did this week.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Take just one part of your role and do it just because you love it.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to, if you're gonna hole right now, you don't have to try and love everything.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just pick one thing.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that used to really satisfy you, that you used to really love to do, that you just don't find joy, that much joy in anymore.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pick that one part of your role and this week, do it just because you love it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not because you're gonna get noticed because of it, not because it even necessarily advances everything.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do it with joy just because it's part of why you said yes to the ministry calling in the first place.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a conversation, maybe it's a prayer, a moment of prep that nobody else will see.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: That will be enough.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: That will be enough to start helping you feel more joy.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's what I know about you.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're listening to this podcast, you care.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're afraid that if you stop performing, people will see that you're not enough, but they already know that you're not enough.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: None of us are enough.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: None of us are.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's why this whole thing is called ministry and not meritocracy.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: The freedom comes when you stop trying to earn what you already have.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: God is not grading you.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's not grading you, he's working with you.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the people that you serve, they don't need your perfection, they need your presence.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And joy comes back when you stop auditioning and you stop sir start serving.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here's your bottom line for today.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot work your way into worthiness.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can't work your way into worthiness.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And trying to do so will cost you the joy that made you say yes in the very first place.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the challenge for you today.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think back.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Think back when God called you to ministry.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: When you decided, hey, I'm gonna go to work at a church, I'm gonna give my life to Jesus in full-time ministry or part-time ministry.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I feel like God's calling me to do in my life.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: What gave you joy?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: What helped you to really feel great in your ministry and in your volunteering or whatever you're doing?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing I want you to pick this week.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: How's your joy in that area?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have joy in that area, just this week, just this one thing, the one thing that used to bring you joy that doesn't bring you joy anymore, try and do it not for performance, not for perfection, not to check it off your list, not so that anybody else sees.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Do it with joy under the Lord.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't get into this whole thing to perform, you got into it to serve.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it for today.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been helpful to you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear from you if there's any way that my team or I can help you in any of your staffing or healthy church initiatives.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear from you.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Podcast at chemistry staffing.com is the email.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it for today.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Join me tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Tem Podcast Episode.