Living from your soul - Careers and calls
1. Cultivating purpose: Discovering your unique calls in life
2. Pursuing your “calls” in life: Being your best self in the world
3. Growing in meaning, purpose, and passion: Leading from within
It is impossible to talk about what it means to be happy and fulfilled in life without addressing the part of your life that has the biggest impact on your daily sense of wellbeing (other than our relationships with family and friends). That, of course, is your career.
Some simple math may help to illustrate just how significant that part of your life is. Let’s say that you are lucky enough to find full time employment for the duration of your work life. Most jobs require around 40 hours per week (for some of us that is a light work week). And let’s say that you are lucky enough to get a job that offers three full months of vacation, so that you only work 40 weeks out of the year. And let’s say that you begin work in your twenties and can retire (what is now early) in your sixties, so 40 years of work give or take. In this rosy scenario, we are still working 40 hours times 40 weeks times 40 years which equals … I don’t know, let me get my calculator … 64,000 hours! A huge number to get your head around but I think you get the point. That is way too much of your life to do something that is unfulfilling.
Career choice matters to your sense of wellbeing. Some prefer the word occupation, as in, what occupies about one half of our waking life. I prefer to use the word call because it connotes a sense of purpose and meaning in your work, one that is freely chosen and pursued with passion. Perhaps that is why I place it under the topic of Spiritual Wellbeing, because, when rightly understood it offers the greatest potential for you to live a more authentic and fulfilling life.
So, what is a call and how can you live from a sense of call? My favorite formulation for call is a quote from American writer and theologian, Frederick Buechner, who declared that you are called to the place “where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need”. This statement is poignant and practical in that it recognizes that a call is both meaningful to you and purposeful in the way it serves the world. The promise of call is that you do not have to forfeit a sense of meaning and purpose in your work life.
Allow me to illustrate with an example, if I may. A former student of mine was entering her “quarter life crisis” and despairing of ever finding a job that would suit her unique abilities and interests. Not unlike most of us, she toiled in job after job without finding much to motivate her beyond the paycheck. Nevertheless, she continued to search for something more fulfilling in her work life, and she proactively took steps to find a better fit. We just had coffee before I left for Costa Rica
At Leadership for Life, we recognize the central role that career plays in your life and we are particularly interested in helping you to explore what it would mean to consider your chosen career as a calling. If you have an interest in exploring this further, please contact us at leadershipforlife@gmail.com for more information.
During our Costa Rica vacations, you have much needed time away from the everyday concerns of the workplace. Being physically in a different place can often help you to be in a different frame of mind, so that you can imagine creatively and courageously where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.
Come away with us next summer and dream of the possibilities for your work life in a beautiful and inspirational setting! Or contact us if you want to explore this notion right now, right where you areJ
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