Why your calling isn't calling!
Posted on June 25, 2024 by Jo Yvon, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
I show you that a calling is not something you wait to find, but something you create. And I show you how to do it.
“This work is OK but it’s not my calling. I don’t even know what my calling is!”
A client said this to me and it got me thinking, what even IS a calling?
The idea goes back to the 16th century. Catholicism said the Catholic Church was our link to God. Calvinism protested and said that No – It’s through our hard work that we serve God. This hard work is our calling.
And now, even in our more secular age, we still look for this one calling.
The challenge is the implied passiveness. Something or someone outside of you is doing the calling. So you sit quietly and strain to listen out for that call. But what if you don’t hear anything? What if nothing and no-one seems to be calling? Do you just listen harder?
Here’s the thing. That’s not how it works. You don’t hear your calling. You create it.
If you want to find what fulfils you, you have to take action.
Here are 4 actions that work:
1. Reflection: look inwards to uncover values that matter most
2. Investigation: look outwards to what attracts your attention and sparks your interest
3. Connection: find who in your network is involved in something that fascinates you
4. Momentum: do something that helps you find out more
Questions that help:
1. What have I been doing when I’ve felt most alive and engaged? What most appealed to me about it? What skills was I using?
2. Who do I know who inspires me? What is it about them? What can I do to get a conversation with them?
3. How can I get involved with an organisation or issue that matters to me?
This week I asked a client “what does it feel like when you imagine doing something you’ve chosen, because you love it?”
He said “It feels like freedom”
That sounds like a path worth walking.
