During a work-related phone call the other day, my cheek inadvertently tapped the FaceTime button on my phone. As I heard that iconic FT ringtone and tried desperately to get it to go away, I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks. How embarrassing. And full disclosure: it was the third time in a month when my cheek tried to FT someone! So, yes, I am officially, “accidently FaceTimes people” years old. 

I graduated from college 15 years ago. When I did, the advice I got from well-meaning adults in my life was this: Get a job at good company and you’ll be good. Oh, and print 50 copies of your resume and hand deliver them to any place you’d like to work. Spoiler alert: I never got the job at the good company. And not one of those 50 places called me back. But the goodness has played itself out time and time again. 

These days, my job is to help people wrestle with their biggest question about work and calling. I am the author of “Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World” and the Executive Director of the De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Seminary. If you would have told me 15 years ago that my work would be to help people think about theirs, I would have laughed. But here I am, learning more each day about who God is and how God has made me.

While our identity is found in Christ, work and calling are a small part of what shapes us as people. In addition to people and school and where we live largely shaping who we are, we are also formed by what we do. Through our work, we can learn about ourselves and others, and about what we’re good at and the issues that matter to us. And it’s not just paid work that shapes us. It’s all that we put our heads and hearts and hands to. 

I wonder where you are in your own work life. Maybe you’re working part-time while in school. Or maybe you’re about to graduate and are trying to figure out what’s next. Maybe you’ve landed your first job but it’s playing out like you imagined. 

Wherever you are, know that if you’re coming of age in our current era of work, you are doing so in a distinct time. The world of work is changing rapidly. We exist in a multi-faceted globalized economy that is largely powered by technology. There’s a reckoning around racial justice in systems, schools and workplaces across the United States. Violence in our communities and a climate crisis are personal, everyday issues. Plus, our changing world of work has only been exacerbated by a global pandemic.

Though my FaceTime story doesn’t prove it, some have dubbed my Millennial generation as the first “digitally native” generation—meaning that we’ve never known anything other than the internet, smartphones and the digital technology that undergirds it all. I suspect that at some point, experts will look back and realize that Gen Z is and was the first generation to grow up with constant, widespread change. You have never known anything different than disruption.

Being a generation formed by disruptive change means that you carry particular anxieties, perspectives and superpowers. You have a lot to teach the rest of us. As everyone else scrambles to grow more used to change, you will likely end up leading in critical and meaningful ways through your work. 

But you’re also probably newer to work, which means you’ve got to balance your superpowers with the need to pay for life. Plus, you’re in the thick of learning about your sense of calling. If I could go back and give advice to my younger self, it would be this: Life and work happen one day at a time. If you care about big things, pay attention to the little things.  

I want to suggest three things you can do that will help you pay attention to the little things. For each of these, it doesn’t matter what kind of work you’re currently doing—they are meant to be broadly applicable. 

1. Take Doable Risks

When we think about risks, we tend to imagine the big, scary choices that can either make or break us, like moving to a new city where you don’t know anyone or quitting a job you love to work at a new place.

While it’s certainly true that sometimes God compels us to take big risks, most of our work lives don’t play out in such a grand fashion. Doable risks are the ones we already have the resources (relationships, skills, time and sometimes money) for and that we can take within the next week or month. 

In my experience, people doing work that matters are able to take doable risks nearly every day. Sometimes risk pans out, other times it doesn’t. When we fail, remember that we are grafted into a story that promises new life on the heels of death. Because Jesus conquered death and loss, we know that our mistakes will never have the final word and failure will never define us. 

So, consider what next doable risk you might take this week. Maybe you want to speak up about something you care about. Maybe you feel compelled to extend kindness to someone you don’t know very well. Maybe you say yes to something new.

2. Set Boundaries And Work Hard 

Our journeys of work include developing a healthy relationship with “working hard.” I simply do not buy the idea that young people are lazy. So, when I regularly have organizational leaders ask me how they can get young people to work harder, my response is always the same: What might young people have to teach organizational leaders about our non-stop, on-demand way of working and being? 

If you feel like our collective relationship to work isn’t actually working for very many of us, you’re not alone. We’re overextended, exhausted and some of us are deeply unhappy. Working hard and outside the limits that God intends almost never works out well.

But for now, let’s flip the question: What might organizational leaders and older generations have to teach you about working hard? In most sectors, productivity is the currency of opportunity—specifically when it comes to things like promotions, new assignments and freedom. I would guess that anyone you admire professionally has worked very hard to get where they are. And, as those who bear the image of God who works to bring the world into existence (including us), the way we work ought to honor the image of God. 

So, whose work do you admire? What do you know about their work habits? How might you adopt these habits for yourself? 

3. Look for Manna As A Way to Catalog God’s Grace

You may remember manna from the Old Testament story in Exodus 16 when God provides food day by day for the Israelites. The story goes that the Israelites were stuck in the desert and wandering and not sure what to do next and God provides a flaky, bread-like substance for them each morning. 

Because manna teaches us about the ordinary pace of God’s grace, I have found it helpful to look for figurative manna in my everyday work. At the end of a day, I will ask myself: Where did I notice God’s grace today? Where did it feel sweet? Where did it seem kind of bland? Over time, by cataloging God’s grace I have come to learn just how much God is with me in the details of what I do—forming me and shaping me along the way. 

So, at the end of a shift or a week of school, consider where you’re noticing God’s grace in this season.

For further study

• Read: Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World by Michaela O’Donnell 
• Listen: The Call to Mastery with Jordan Raynor: Episode with Dr. Michaela O’Donnell
• Watch: Make Work Matter: Nesting Dolls of Calling by Michaela O’Donnell