“Take this job and shove it…I ain’t working here no more.”
– Johnny Paycheck
In 1977, Donald Eugene Lytle (better known by his stage name, Johnny Paycheck) hit the top 100 Billboard Country chart with a song titled “Take This Job And Shove It.” It stayed on the charts for eighteen weeks, securing the #1 spot for two weeks in a row. The song captured, as well as articulated how many people feel about their less than perfect jobs.
What is a perfect job?
I recently heard an interview with Salman Rushdie, a well-known novelist who has lots of money and notoriety from his career as a writer. At first glance you would think he has the perfect job. After all he writes books for a living and a lot of people buy them. Even if you haven’t read one of his ten books, you will likely remember that the publishing of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, was the subject of much controversy in the Muslim world and resulted in the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, calling for his assassination. Perfect job, eh? Sometimes you may feel like you have a target on your back at work, but Rushdie has a real one.
An HBR IdeaCast interview with Alison Beard, Senior Editor with The Harvard Business Review (click here to listen to interview), reveals that, to our surprise, being a novelist may be more akin to the jobs you and I have. When Rushdie was asked by Beard how he goes about his writing, here is the answer he gave:
“I’ve always told myself simply to treat it like a 9-5 job. If you have a job you just go and do it, no matter whether or not you’re feeling good that day. You can’t wait for genius or inspiration to descend. You just need to make yourself do it. That’s what I do. I’ve disciplined myself to sit down at my desk and do it everyday. One of the things that makes a writer a writer is that it’s something he really needs to do. It’s not just a choice of a job or career – it’s a calling, a vocation.”
Hearing Rushdie’s response reminds me of Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10).” Rushdie says he writes because that’s his calling, even though he doesn’t feel like writing everyday. He says he’s learned to make himself “just go and do it,” because that’s his calling. He does what us Christians would say, “God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Perhaps your current job or career is not bringing the satisfaction it once did. Are you counting down the days until the weekend, your next vacation, or even retirement? That’s not what God has called us to do. He’s called us to just go and do it; do our work willingly no matter what that work is as though we were working for the Lord, rather than for people. After all, we get our rewards from God, not man. When we work, it’s really Jesus we’re working for (Col 3:23-24).
If you’re experiencing discontent in your current work, I suggest you push the “pause button” before you pull a “Johnny Paycheck.” There are no perfect jobs. Rushdie doesn’t wait for genius or inspiration to descend. Your boss won’t let you wait for it either. It’s not just about what you do, it’s about the attitude in which you do it. Change your attitude and your job will change. Change who you’re working for – the Master – and your tune will change. Perhaps you can even rewrite the words to Mr. Paycheck’s song. May I suggest, “Take This Job and LOVE It?”
Play to win this week in the game that really counts!
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