Does church make you a better employee? Optimism & putting in an honest day’s work.
‘œMy mind is my own church.’ ‘“ Thomas Paine
Last week, Penelope Trunk, my favorite career authority, wrote a post providing 4 tips that will improve productivity at work. Number 3 on her list: Go to church.
She points her brazen careerists to The New York Times article where:
Lisa Cullen reports that girls who go to church work harder than other people. Maybe you think this is because church girls are so bored in their upstanding lives that they can’t think of anything better to do than work. But I think it actually has something to do with optimism.
People who go to church regularly are more optimistic people in general, and optimism makes people feel more positive about their work. If you feel like you will affect your work in a positive way, you’re more likely to dig in and do it.
What do you think? Does faith influence optimism? And how does this translate in the workplace?
One of her readers suggested it’s because Christians are great sheep. Depending on the day of the week, their shepherd could be their employer, pastor or Christ himself. Baa, baa’¦ you get the picture. The commenter writes:
To my point though, each religious poster has a similar take on why Christians are more productive at work – be it faith in decision-making, optimism, or simply not being distracted by YouTube, flirting, my space, etc. But here are other possible reasons, self esteem and adherence to duty.
At the heart of all major religions is the concept of respect for self (self esteem) as a child of God. Treat yourself with respect, and by implication, do whatever you do with diligence and pride because your actions are an extension of your physical self. If you do something, do it well as it represents you.
Second, in terms of adherence to duty, the saying, ‘œ’¦give onto Caesar that which is Caesar’s’ and a myriad of other Judeo-Christian parables abound, about how servants, slaves, etc should be dutiful to a master or employer. Basically, we make great sheep.
In the past, the most pliable and easily ruled population has been a religious population. Religious employees simply work harder because they are less distracted, rebellious, and questioning. This fact while not entirely complimentary, also seems to be an overlooked variable in the religious/hard worker equation.
I’ll give Christians the hard work award. After all, I’m a product of this tradition and wholeheartedly give the church due credit for the development of my work ethic. It takes discipline to do your ‘œdaily devotions’ and observe ‘œquiet time’ with God.
You also have to be pretty studious outside of school to memorize scripture. Of course, I wasn’t quite as diligent as one of my sisters who memorized several books written by the disciple known as Paul and for this she earned the top spot on the church Bible Quiz team. I know, it almost sounds cult-like. Well it was. But it kept me on the straight and narrow until I graduated from college and started questioning everything from my sexuality to an afterlife.
Another commenter on Penelope’s post summarizes these questions best:
Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
100,000 Burmese – women, children, families – were just washed off the planet. I guess if you believe in a Christian God you can call that extreme productivity.
Apparently, I’m not alone in my questioning. Here’s a study that found:
The fastest-growing religious group is people without any religious affiliation. But that doesn’t mean the U.S. is experiencing a secular surge. Most in this group aren’t atheists; they just describe their religion as ‘œnothing in particular.’
So I guess most people aren’t going to church. And those that do, why do they get the monopoly on optimism as suggested by Penelope?
Are you optimistic? How does this impact your work day? And is there a correlation between optimism and income? Please let us know below.
I’d argue that a cheerful mood and buoyant personality doesn’t require a belief in God. Your disposition can be improved by any number of things. Say, chocolate for instance. Especially the kind with ‘œgood intentions‘ as one of its main ingredients. Seriously, take a look at Intentional Chocolate. It’s not a gimmick:
- The strategic advantage is an innovative technology that embeds the intentions of advanced meditators into chocolate and bridges the gaps between spirituality and science. This is the first mind matter product in the market.
- The target market addresses a market segment that is being described as a mega-trend by 76% of executive’s worldwide, health and well-being. A recent Youtube video about Intentional Chocolate received over 150,000 hits in a 48-hour period.
So it’s Monday morning’¦ anybody out there working hard? Are you giving credit to God or that square of dark chocolate? We want to know’¦
I think it(productivity) has more to do with sincerity and sense of duty rather than optimism.
Religion probably plays a big role in motivating sincerity and sense of duty.
So perhaps there is a link between religion and productivity.
I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of studies that correlate religious belief or behavior with positive social results are skewed. There’s a pervasive feeling in this country that faith is a positive thing, so there’s bias toward seeing connections between the faithful and positive results. (And, by asserting this without citing sources, I’m guilty of the same thing I’m accusing the researchers of doing. The irony is not lost on me.)
If “productivity” means blindly following a leader (corporate or political), then I’ll take a pass. From my viewpoint, church/synagogue/mosque-going breeds conformity, rigidity, and passivity. I’d like to see a study on how many entrepeneurs are regular organized religion attendees!
It makes you a better employee mainly because you are taught that questioning authority is wrong…the Pope/Minister/Father/Monk/Imam/Reverend/Shaman/High Priest(ess)/etc..knows more than you so you should do EXACTLY as they tell you no matter how silly it may seem.
Is it any wonder that some of the most creative people in history who gave us great advances in science and literature were always in trouble with the church authorities??
Do the names Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, and Salman Rushdie ring any bells??
~ Roland
fathersez: I agree that the sense of duty part plays a role in motivation… at least that was my experience growing up.
GDad: Yes, studies are suspect especially when you consider the group or organization behind the study.
Jennifer: Indeed that would make a good study. As you indicate, organized religion often feels like it’s in place to control. I have trouble with that part of it too.
Roland: Amen! That’s an excellent point.
I wonder if the optimism comes from the community that most churches have. Most churchgoing people are nice, friendly and welcoming to people they believe are like themselves, and there are plenty of activities to join in with if you like.
Huh. I wonder when the last time Ms. Penelope was in a church was. That’s not been my experience of what Christians are.
Actually, that’s not my experience of sheep, neither. I grew up in farm country, had myself a flock of sheep (and yes, I’ve heard all the ‘Mary had a little lamb’ jokes). Sheep are dirty, stupid, stubborn, and if you are between a sheep and something it wants, it will knock your ass over.
Which is why I always, ALWAYS find it amusing when the Gospel reading involves sheep and the pastor goes off on a meek’n’mild tangent.