Power Move™ #2: Thought Sometimes Wisdom Begins by Listening
- Glennae Davis, RN, Workforce Care Specialist™
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
Power Move™ #2: Thought
Sometimes Wisdom Begins by Listening
"Pay attention to that random thought you didn't think but heard. Do what God says. Trust the Holy Ghost for insight, reflection, judgment, reason, and leadership."
When most people think about career burnout, they think about exhaustion.
They think about feeling overwhelmed.
They think about anxiety, frustration, or wanting to quit.
Those are real experiences.
But career burnout affects something else that often goes unnoticed.
It affects how we think.
The Quiet Cost of Chronic Workplace Stress
When employees spend weeks or months coping with chronic workplace stress, the mind becomes crowded.
Deadlines.
Emails.
Conflict.
Fear.
Bills.
Performance expectations.
The next shift.
The next meeting.
The next crisis.
Eventually, the noise becomes so constant that it becomes difficult to recognize wisdom when it comes.
Not because God stopped speaking.
Because we stopped listening.
Throughout Scripture, God Interrupted Ordinary Moments
God often redirected people's lives with what seemed like a simple instruction.
Go.
Wait.
Stand.
Ask.
Walk.
Trust.
His direction did not always arrive through dramatic events.
Sometimes it came through a quiet prompting that required faith more than certainty.
That is why Thought is the second Power Move™.
Not every important thought begins with us.
Sometimes wisdom begins by listening.
Listening Requires Discernment
This Power Move™ is not an invitation to follow every impulse or emotion.
It is an invitation to cultivate discernment.
The paragraph from Operation Mental Health™ points us toward five qualities we need when making employee health decisions:
Insight
Reflection
Judgment
Reason
Leadership
These are not passive qualities.
They require us to pause.
To pray.
To think.
To seek God's direction before reacting to workplace pressure.
Career burnout often convinces us that every decision must be made immediately.
Wisdom reminds us that thoughtful decisions usually become better decisions.
What Thought Are You Ignoring?
Have you ever sensed that you needed to document a conversation?
Ask another question?
Delay sending an email?
Take a day to rest?
Seek wise counsel before responding?
Many employees dismiss those moments because they seem insignificant.
Yet one thoughtful decision can change the course of a career.
Throughout my own experience with workplace discrimination, there were moments when God impressed something on my heart that didn't immediately make sense.
Looking back, those moments became turning points.
Not because they were dramatic.
Because I chose to pay attention.
Read. Comprehend. Apply.
Career burnout doesn't only affect your emotions.
It can cloud your judgment.
Slow your reasoning.
And drown out wisdom.
As employees coping with chronic workplace stress, we can become so overwhelmed by noise, fear, deadlines, and pressure that we stop paying attention to God's leading.
Power Move™ #2 reminds us that not every important thought begins with us.
Sometimes wisdom begins by listening.
Your Next Right Step
If workplace stress has lasted longer than six weeks, don't ignore what God may be showing you.
Begin with understanding.
Take the Work Fatigue Quiz™ to discover your level of Work Fatigue™ and identify your next right step.
Then continue reading Operation Mental Health™: Practical Lessons on Career Burnout and Recovery as we walk through the 10 Power Moves™—practical faith principles that help Black career women, registered nurses, and believers in Yahweh make informed employment, mental health, and faith-based decisions.
Read. Comprehend. Apply.
