Are you a workaholic?

"Put God first, and he will...crown your efforts with success." Proverbs 3:6

When you experience rejection early in life, you feel like you constantly have to "prove" yourself, so you become a workaholic in order to gain people's acceptance. One woman writes, "I can still hear my father yelling, telling me I'd never be any good, never amount to anything. The more he yelled, the more determined I became to prove him wrong." Do you have voices like that in your head? It's true that you'll succeed by working hard, but to experience lasting satisfaction you must know that you're fulfilling God's will for your life. When all is said and done, what matters most is knowing you're loved and accepted by God. What can top that?
God measures with a different yardstick. He won't ask what kind of car you drove, but how many people you have rides to. He won't ask the square footage of your home, but how you raised your children and treated your family. He won't ask about the brand names in your closet, but who you helped to clothe. He won't ask about your salary, but how much you invested into the building of His kingdom. He won't ask about your job title, bit if you tried to perform with excellence and integrity. He won't ask how many friends you had, but how many people you were a friend to. He won't ask what neighborhood you lived in, but if you loved your neighbor. He won't ask about your politics or the color of your skin, but about the quality of your character. So don't just work hard, work hard for the right reasons!

Be prepared

"Hold on to instruction...guard it well, for it is your life." Proverbs 4:13
It's not enough to get prepared, you must stay prepared. We're being told that knowledge is doubling every five years. So if you don't keep growing, you'll end up with coping skills that no longer match the challenge you face in the world you live in. It's estimated that many doctos are so busy taking care of patients, they're years behind the latest developments in their field. If you or a loved one gets ill, that could become a real concern for you.
Preparation doesn't begin with what you do, it begins with what you believe. If you believe that success tomorrow depends on what you do today, you'll treat today differently. A wise sailor studies the weather before he goes to sea, because he knows that avoiding a storm is easier than getting out of one. Howard Coonley of the American National Standards Institute stated, "The leader of the future will be rated by his ability to anticipate problems, rather than to meet them as they come."
Preparation is not merely an event, it's a perspective. Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." As a young man Lincoln had split rails with an axe, so he knew the value of staying sharp. Wisdom always prompted him to prepare-whether he was getting ready to cut wood, study law on his own to pass the bar, or lead the nation. This is why your Bible says, "Hold on to instruction, do not let it go. Guard it well, for it is your life."