Career Counseling Advice from My Dad

Dad with my son Austin working on the farm.

Dad with my son Austin working on the farm.

My dad is a farmer!  He loves to work and improve the land.  He has always been a farmer since his young age and built his own business with the help of family.  He has grown soybeans, rice, cotton, milo, wheat, and corn over the years.  His farm is in Southeast Missouri in the rich soil of the Mississippi delta.  I cherish many memories of growing up working and learning on the farm.

Many seniors are graduating this month and looking to their future.  This time of year made me reflect back on some “dad sayings” I used to hear growing up.  These sayings have shaped my life and work, and I wanted to share them with others.

1.  Find a job you love doing, and it won’t seem like work.  I remember this saying the most.  Maybe it was because on most days, dad loved his farm work.  Conversations would sometimes turn to other types of work for dad or possibilities for me.  It would always get back to this philosophy, find something you enjoy doing and it won’t seem like work.  We are so blessed in America that we can choose our work.  Now every job is gong to have its challenges, but choose to do something that you enjoy; a job for which you have a passion and motivation for getting up and going to work.  Dad practiced this mantra.  He loved farming.  Still, I don’t know if we will ever get him to retire.  I can say that I have been blessed to enjoy my work.  I love preaching.  I love working with a church and teaching the Bible regularly.  I enjoy visiting and ministering.  Now there are stressful days, there are weeks, I don’t want to study for a sermon as Sunday draws nigh, but overall I enjoy getting up and going to work.

2.  Go get an education, so you won’t have to do this kind of work.  This one is somewhat contradictory of the first, but I often remember this saying as well.  It always came on a rough day.  It came on 100 degree days in July when I was out spot chopping weeds out of the cotton, or when the combine was broke down and dad was covered in oil and grease doing some mechanical work stressed because the combine wasn’t running.  It was his way of motivating me to apply myself in school and go to college and get an education.  He would tell me to go get an education in something besides farming, because I could still farm if I wanted, but I wouldn’t be forced too.  I still believe in the power and potential of an education.  In our competitive world today, the younger generation must prepare themselves well with an education.  I have earned two Masters degrees in Bible and ministry and they have  richly blessed my life.

3.  Work hard and do a good job.  When I was applying for an internship with missionary Steve DeLoach in Guyana, South America back in 1999.  He said the reason he chose me was because I grew up on a farm and I would know how to work.  Dad is a hard worker and desires things to be done right.  Like so many farmers, he works long hours during the busy season.  I grew up with these values inculcated into my being.  Unlike the other two above, this was not a saying, it was just a way of life.  I spent summers working long hours 6 days a week from early in the morning to late at night.  But I could never outdo my dad when it came to work.  Of course things have flipped a little now, last year he was over watching me dig fence posts, and instead of helping, he enjoyed taking the kids to have some fun!  I still believe hard work is one of the most important ingredients in success in this world in the work force.  In fact, in many ways it seems the quality and quantity of work by workers is declining.  If you want to get ahead on the job, work hard and do a good job and your work will speak for itself.

What advice do you remember from your dad?

Permanent link to this article: https://www.joshketchum.com/career-counseling-advice-from-my-dad/