There was an interesting article by Tom Musback which was posted Yahoo! Hot Jobs (see attached Word document). It was a review of a book by Patrick Lencioni titled “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job”. The premise of the book is that while there are some bad jobs out there, the reality is that any job can be a “miserable” job. He defined a miserable job as one that makes a person “cynical and frustrated and demoralized when they go home at night”. It is certainly hard to argue that point!
The question for those of us considering the 3:9 Principle is, “How does our Nature effect our work, or our view of work?”. Mr. Lencioni placed the burden of our misery primarily on our mangers. Their lack of interest in us as “people with unique lives” and the failure to help us find relevance in our work is the root of our misery. While I agree with the fundamentals of his arguement, I think that our understanding of ourselves and our core Nature plays a big part in the equation as well.
For instance, a pastor friend of mine mapped into the 3:9 Principle almost exclusively in the “Heart” nature. Our natural tendancy is to say, “Of course, after all, he is a pastor…”. The fact is though, that the correlation to Nature and Occupation is self-driven. He could have chosen any field to pursue. Often times life forces us down a particular path regardless of our core Nature.  My friend is actually in the vast minority - he is someone whose work directly lines up with his Nature. As a result, he is one of the few people who can actually say, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this work!”
For most people, we either do not know or fail to acknowledge our true Nature. Rather, we are influenced by social, economic or physical circumstances and we end up in an occupation which may conflict, or at best co-exist with our Nature. When this situation occurs, which I believe happens more often than not, then our perception of our work is impacted. When we are not working in the area of our Nature we become more easily frustrated, we struggle to succeed or we become apathetic.
This doesn’t mean we need to run out and quit our jobs so we can go back to school (Intellectual) or spend time philosophying about God (Spiritual) and such. What it means is that we need to find the aspects of our job that play to our Nature. If someone is highly Relational and works in a technical industry, then it would be in their best interest to find a job that requires interacting with people and building relationships based on trust and like interests. Each Nature has a particular aspect that can shape the way we approach a job, and no two people will find the exact same formula for success.
If we strive to understand ourselves by finding our unique design and then apply that knowledge to our work, then we will be much more likely to find satisfaction in the job and avoid misery. As Mr. Lencioni suggests, improving the boss-employee dynamic can significantly reduce the chances of having a miserable job. Your understanding of your core Nature will not only benefit yourself, but it will also help you in communicating your needs and your strengths to your boss. That in turn can improve your manager’s ability to help you find relevance and success in the workplace.
So, if you haven’t yet, make the time to find your unique 3:9 Principle mapping and then leverage that knowledge in your work. You might just be amazed at the difference it will make!
