音樂椅

如果你不知道音樂椅這個遊戲，我來解釋給你聽。這是個小孩子的遊戲，當音樂撥放的時候，大家繞著圍成圓圈的椅子走，當音樂停止的時候，每個人都要趕快抓一張椅子坐下。重點是椅子永遠少一張，所以沒有搶到椅子坐的人就出局了。

在玩這個遊戲的時候，我學到一個很重要的技巧:「如果你不想一直跟人搶最後一張椅子，最好是自己帶一張」。這也是我們在職場要努力的目標。什麼叫做「帶自己的椅子」? 意思就是下定決心要有創意、找到自己的定位然後把自己的工作做到最好，對自己的工作充滿幹勁和熱情。

十歲的時候，玩音樂椅還滿好玩的，但是當你五十歲的時候就不好玩了。我認識很多人花很多時間在搶一直減少的椅子。在很多產業裡，我們都看到公司縮編、裁員和精簡。對公司來說，產業的音樂椅也一直在進行著，有許多公司也因此岌岌可危。

那麼我們要如何在雇用職位和機會逐漸減少的職場「帶一張自己的椅子」？對我而言，我總是能在攝影產業裡找到顧客。多年之後，我也發展出能修復舊照片的技術，把老舊退色的照片變成有色彩鮮豔充滿生命力的影像。在音樂產業我也發展類似的公司，音樂是我的興趣，在那裡也有「我的椅子」。

試著問自己一個問題?我的椅子是什麼?你最擅長做什麼事情、天份和經驗是什麼？讓你與眾不同之處是什麼?你還有其他的能發展成職業的長才嗎?我相信聖經教導我們一些相關的原則：

我們在專業和個性上都是獨特的。 即使企業只提供某些類型的職位，每個人的背景、人格、興趣、天份和人生經驗都不太一樣。我們要好好利用神給我們獨特的特質把它們發揮到最大，讓自己成為有價值的員工或是發展它們，讓自己的人生喜樂和滿足。「我的肺腑是你所造的； 我在母腹中，你已覆庇我。 我要稱謝你，因我受造，奇妙可畏；你的作為奇妙，這是我心深知道的。」 (詩篇139篇13-14節)

神已經預備我們做現在的工作。 你有沒有想過自己為什麼會做現在這一份工作，而不是其他的?聖經告訴我們的其中因素是神對我們的旨意。「我們原是他的工作，在基督耶穌裏造成的，為要叫我們行善，就是上帝所預備叫我們行的。」 (以弗所書2章10節)

註1: Seth Godin 是位創業家、部落客、知名演講者，同時也是多本全球暢銷書如《紫牛》等的作家，被美國《商業週刊》譽為「資訊時代的終極創業家」。他多著墨於後工業革命之後，傳播、行銷、離職、領導，以及最重要的－事物正全面改變等現象。參考資料來源:科技報橘http://buzzorange.com/techorange/2014/02/05/seth-godin-learning-for-life/http://buzzorange.com/techorange/2014/02/05/seth-godin-learning-for-life/

吉姆．馬提斯在堪薩斯州陸路公園市經營一家照相館。他的專長是商業和影劇界人像。他也經營一所攝影學校。他曾是CBMC在堪薩斯州堪薩斯市和密蘇里州堪薩斯市的執行主任。

If you are not familiar with musical chairs, it is a children’s game where you walk around a group of chairs as music plays. When the music stops, everyone grabs a chair and sits. The catch is there is always one less chair than there are players. The person that ends up without a chair is eliminated from the game.

The most practical lesson I learned while playing musical chairs is that if you do not want to always be scrambling for the last chair, it would be good if you could bring your own. At least that is what we should be doing in the workplace. By “bringing your own chair,” I mean determining to be creative, finding your own voice, and doing your own thing – identifying and pursuing what you are best at doing, and feel most enthused and even passionate about doing.

Fighting for a chair seems like fun when you are 10 years old, but not so much when you are 50. I know too many people who have spent too many years scrambling for a decreasing number of chairs. In many industries we have seen this with downsizing, as companies economize by decreasing staff. Even for entrepreneurs the “musical chairs syndrome” might be felt as changes in the market and technology turn once-thriving businesses into struggling enterprises barely clinging to survival.

So how can we go about “bringing our own chair,” when places and opportunities for employment are declining? For me, I always found the demand for someone with photographic expertise. As years have passed, I have also developed skills in restoring old photographs, transforming aging, faded photos into fresh, revitalized images from the past. I have had similar experiences in music, my other passion. These have been my “chairs.”

The question to ask yourself is, “What is my chair?” What are the distinctive skills, gifts and experiences you possess that separate you from others where you work – or could enable you to carve a new career niche of your own? I believe the Bible offers some relevant principles we should consider:

We are unique, both professionally and personally. Even at companies where many of the same types of people are employed, everyone comes with a unique background, personality, interests, talents and life experiences. We must consider how to leverage those God-given qualities either to make us valued staff members, or how we can use them to do something on our own that we would give us much joy and fulfillment. “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother”s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalm 139:13-14).

We have been specially prepared for the work we do. Have you ever wondered why you have a natural bent toward some kinds of work – and not toward others? The Bible said this is due in part to God”s intentions for each of us individually. “For we are God”s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

Jim Mathis is the owner of a photography studio in Overland Park, Kansas, specializing in executive, commercial and theatrical portraits, and operates a school of photography. He formerly was executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.