Here are seven simple yet profound questions to ask yourself regularly to live a more integrated faith in your professional life.
1. Why am I working today?
Not the automatic answer. The real one. Is it to pay my bills? To grow? To serve? To prove something? Awareness of one's motivation changes the quality of one's presence at work.
2. To whom do I owe something today?
Who in my professional circle is waiting for something from me: a reply, a decision, attention, an honesty I have been putting off? Faith calls us to equity in small things.
3. Do I have something to repair?
A hurtful word, an unkept promise, an avoided conflict. Reconciliation is not weakness: it releases considerable energy for the rest of the work.
4. Am I taking care of people, not just tasks?
It is possible to be very productive while being profoundly inattentive to the people working alongside you. Christian faith insists on the person as an end, never as a means.
5. Where am I yielding to fear rather than to conviction?
The fear of disappointing, the fear of conflict, the fear of judgement. These fears orient our professional decisions far more than we admit. Naming them is the beginning of being freed from them.
6. Does my work today contribute to the common good?
Even an administrative meeting can be oriented towards good if it is conducted with justice and efficiency. Even a repetitive task can be an act of service if it is accomplished with care.
7. How am I taking care of myself to last?
Faith encourages us to take care of the body, the mind and the soul. An exhausted professional is not a pious professional: they are an imprudent one. Rest, sabbath and limit are acts of faith.