Changing Your Perspective on Your Campus Job
My alarm goes off.
I fight to open my eyes and stop the incessant vibration of the alarm. I finally get it to stop, and I sit up, rub my eyes, and yawn. The room is still dark. My roommates are asleep. I struggle against the temptation to lay my head back down on the pillow. I don’t want to get up. I don’t want to go to work.
This is a constant battle for me. There are many days when I just don’t want to go to my campus job. I don’t hate my job, but I really like my sleep. To be completely honest with you, there are many mornings when I dread going to work.
Maybe you’re the same. You might not have to wake up early for your job, but maybe you have to stay up late. Or you have to work in the evening when you want to hang out with friends. Whatever your situation is, I’m sure you go through times when you have no motivation to clock into work.
So is there anything we can do to make it easier?
I can’t promise that you will love your job after reading this post. But I hope it helps you change your perspective on it.
Work is a part of life.
I know you’re here to study your major, not to work on campus. But your job here is going to prepare you for your job in the future. The fact is: you’re going to work the rest of your life. Work gives us purpose and a sense of responsibility. The more you work here at school, the better prepared you will be for the working world after graduation.
Work is opportunity.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -Thomas Edison
Mr. Edison knew a thing or two about work, and this statement hits the mark. Everyone wants an opportunity to do something big, to succeed, to make it to the top. But many college students are not willing to give their all in their current job because they are so focused on their future work.
I do this a lot.
“I won’t be working here very long,” I tell myself. “So why should I work hard?”
But when I don’t work hard, I miss opportunities. Opportunities to show those in authority over me that I have a good work ethic. Opportunities to prove that I’m responsible. And opportunities to help others and form relationships.
Work is God-glorifying.
“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” -Colossians 3:22–24
I know you’ve heard this before, but it cannot be said enough: we work because it glorifies God. We are told in Genesis 2:15 that God put Adam in the garden to work.
Notice that work is something God gives to mankind before the fall of man in Genesis 3. Work was not a result of the curse, but a part of God’s good creation.
This is why we should work. Not because we have to. Not because we would get in trouble if we didn’t. But because work is a part of who we are.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean work is always wonderful. Work is hard. It challenges us to do things we would rather not. You’re going to go through the dread of the job. Everyone does. But whenever that dread hits me, it helps to remember why work is so important.
The dread of getting up and going to work may never completely leave no matter what job you have. But success is not based on who loves their job the most; successful people are the ones who get up every day determined to make the most of the job God has given them.
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