Ana Mollinedo Mims - Keeping the Faith

I HAD MY FIRST PAYING JOB at the age of fifteen. I worked part time for an insurance company calling people on the phone asking for correct mailing addresses. While I was in high school, I worked as a cashier at a Kmart store. My most recent job has been as a vice president for a Fortune 500 company.

For a number of reasons, the path that my career took was not an expected one for me or others watching the course of my life. I came to the United States from another country as a child. English was not my first language. Wemy family and Ihad no contacts, no money, not even our own home. As a matter of fact, not too long ago, a longtime girlfriend called me up to let me know she had run into someone who was a colleague of ours when I was twenty-two. My friend shared with this person the various things I had accomplished and places I had lived since those times, and the response she got was Gee, I never thought she would be that successful.

I am living proof that career success is not just for the lucky or the well connected. Or for those who receive positive reinforcement about their goals in life. It comes from focus, determination, and, most important for me, from a relationship with God. Everything flows from that relationship, including and especially the hours that take up most of our time that we call our work life.

And thats what this book is all about.

W HAT DOES CAREER SUCCESS mean to you? How do you or will you measure it? Consider that if youre like most, you are looking at a work life of forty or more years. What is within your power to make those years fulfilling and gratifying?

Maybe youre a student right now, trying to choose an area of study that you hope will lead you toward a good job or career with a good paycheck and lifestyle.

Or youre just starting out in your career and are caught up in all the new challenges you face each day in an entry-level position.

Maybe you work in a service field and youre looking for ways to make more money or work more independently.

Maybe youre midway through a corporate career and youre thinking that it was all kind of a mistake, that youd be happier if you had made different choices years ago. And should you (could you?) change at this stage of the game?

Or maybe youre well established and successful but youre still wondering about the bigger picture in some largely unformed way. You entertain those Is this all there is? suspicions.

I believe that the answers or the outcomes in each case will become clearer, and more deeply satisfying, when you are able to shift your line of sight and consider whether what you are doing is what you are supposed to be doing and what it means to blend your working life with a relationship with God. I do believe that, as a result, your definition of success will change as well.

Spiritual values are born from within. They grow and strengthen when we seek to satisfy that God-shaped vacuum in the heart, which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator. In this day and hour in which we live, more than ever before, a robust, guiding spiritual life is the one element in life we cannot afford to live without.

Today, being employed in America (or anywhere for that matter) is not a comforting state. Job security is largely a thing of the past. Lifelong employmentyoure hired, you stay with that company for years, you retire with a decent enough pensionis extremely rare. Pay cuts, outsourcing, downsizing and layoffs, disappearing health benefitsall these things have created fearfulness and uncertainty in a world where we already have enough to worry about.

In this atmosphere, were all driven to keep up. Were working longer hours than ever before, studies show, and often with smaller staffs and fewer resources. In many jobs, the technology that was supposed to make life easier has actually contributed to making it more stressful. Some of you can remember the days when you left the office and didnt work again until you returned the next morning. Today, cell phones, beepers, faxes, and the BlackBerry device ensure that we are on call and accessible at all hours.

Companies no longer feel great loyalty to their employees, and the feeling is mutual. Weve seen that too often the people running the companies cannot be trusted to act with integrity and honesty. In an increasingly global economy, the old walls that added to a sense of job security have crumbled. Someone on another continent might be able to do what you do, just as well and more cheaply. And of course, after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and continuing warfare, the world feels unsafe, perhaps permanently.

All of this has led so many of us to start questioning our choices: Where do I find security and peace? If I am going to spend so many hours working, am I really where I should be? Whats my purpose in life? Who can help me now?

Our spiritual lives and values matter more than ever. We know that instinctively. In a recent Gallup Poll, 70 percent of Americans said they yearned to experience greater personal spiritual growth. We feel a desperate need to look inward and upward and draw strength from something greater than ourselves. Thats where the only safe haven is foundin something greater and unmoveable.

As individuals, each one of us is responsible for shaping our destiny. No one will do it for us. Each of us has a calling, a purpose in life. I have discovered that when you reach out to a God who is there, listen to His call, and embark on a journey with Him, then a career paththe one youre meant to be onopens before you. You might find yourself following some unexpected roads. Or switching gears entirely and heading in another direction. Or doing just what youre doing now, but with greater assurance, deeper satisfaction, and more joy and balance.

Theres another aspect to the spirit-led career, and it plays out in the bigger arena. As a culture, we are all richer when the spiritual principles outlined in this book take precedence over the bottom-line mentality that places the highest value on economic success. Our workplaces, wherever they are, should not be colored by greed, dishonesty, lack of loyalty, or cutthroat behavior. This mentality shouldnt be the only one moving forward the world of work. We all need to make a living, support our families, and provide a basic quality of life. I believe that the values outlined in this book, coupled with a relationship with God, will lead any person to success, even if initially adhering to them may be difficult. In the end, you will reap what you sow.

Y EARS AGO, I became convinced that I was wired the way I wasthat is, I possessed characteristics, personality traits, likes and dislikes, preferences and abilitiesfor a reason that was tied to my calling and purpose for being on this earth. I believe that each of us is wired in his or her unique way, thanks to a God who is good, who calls, who gives us what we need to accomplish that call, and who assists us in getting there. My conviction fueled a strong desire not to squander the gifts I have or the time I have been given to develop and use them. This, of course, is a journey of a lifetime. Over time, I discovered that standing up to take hold of my purpose required many things, including faith, prayerfulness, humility, integrity, forgiveness, stewardship, and an understanding of what it means to leave behind a legacy.