Category Archives: life management

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Don’t cheat your day job for your night job

This post is about integrity.

I am pulled several different ways throughout the day.  We all are.  My day job has a backlog of tasks to do with various degrees of urgency.  My church job has a backlog of people to engage with various degrees of urgency.  My family and homestead also clammer for attention.  And, in the midst of it all, I also try to intentionally play and rest.

So, right off the bat, I recognize that finding something to do is never a problem.  Neither is setting priorities.  In this article, I’d like to explore the idea of integrity in keeping commitments.

In Matthew 5:37, Jesus says:

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

We simply must do what we have committed to doing, otherwise it isn’t a commitment, but simply a good intention.

  1.  Don’t double book your time.

This is the first step of living with integrity.  If you know there will be impossible scheduling conflicts, don’t commit to two things.  For example, if your day job expects you to be working at 10am on a Monday, don’t schedule a 10am appointment for your second job.  This isn’t rocket surgery.

  1. Tell both jobs of your bi-vocational interests.

  2.  Ask for time-shift and place-shift flexibility in doing your work.

  3.  Integrity has nothing to do with your paycheck.

Does your day job really have a greater priority than your 2nd job, simply because you get a bigger paycheck from it?  If your answer is yes, then you are simply saying that your integrity is for sale at the price of your day-job salary.

 

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A blog for people who work two jobs

pulled two directions

This blog is for bi-vocational people. Maybe you work full time and then also work or volunteer as a youth leader, or a scoutmaster, or a fireman, or service club officer. The key thing is that you probably make your primary living from one thing, and then choose to invest in a second thing because of some core value in your life. That might be supporting a family, and needing a second income to do so. It might be a sense of greater mission or calling, like it is in my case.

I am a bi-vocational pastor. I work a full-time day job, and also pastor a small church. Trying to juggle a growing family and two demanding jobs while also maintaining some sense of personal wellness is not easy, but I’ve been doing it for 20 years, and I think I’m ready to share some of the lessons I’ve picked up along the way.

What topics interest me? Productivity and life management, personal mission, work-life synergy, technology and productivity, small church leadership. Let’s look at some upcoming blog topics:

  • “The tools I use to make the most of every day.”
  • “Don’t cheat your day job for your night job.”
  • “How to do what you really want to do without resenting what you have to do to get there”
  • “Practicing what you preach”
  • “Why bi-vocational pastors are better pastors”
  • “How a part-time pastor makes for a healthy church”
  • “Everyone is bi-vocational if they are living God’s call on their lives”
  • “Keeping track of all the details when you are being pulled 100 different ways”
  • “Work and ministry: striving for synergy”
  • “When everyone wants a piece of you, how do you keep a slice for yourself?”
  • “A new look at priorities – it’s more than putting the big rocks in first”

I’d like you to join me for an ongoing conversation about bi-vocationalism. There are some limited blogs and podcasts out there on this topic, and a handful of books. Unfortunately, there isn’t much fresh content being produced or curated. My goal is to become the most recognizable curator or subject matter expert on these topics as they relate to people working two jobs.

A curator has the privilege of sampling a lot of great content. The true heroes are those who came up with great ideas, often through years of toil, trial, and triumph. But, sorting through the good, bad, and ugly, and giving a community the context to celebrate and learn from the best ideas is the role of the curator. I get to show off people who are smarter than me, you get to converse about it, and we all become better at doing the things we love.