Finding Your True Calling: The Handbook for People Who Still Dont Know What They Want to be When They Grow Up But Cant Wait to Find Out
by Valerie Young
Category: Career changes

Have You Found Your True Calling? True Calling?Yeah. True Calling. The reason youre alive. Your personal mission in life. Your raison detre.Your True Calling.If you dont have a clue what Im talking about, take a couple seconds to complete this quick quiz:Are you doing EXACTLY the kind of work that makes you want to leap out of bed each morning excited to begin a new day? Does your work satisfy a need deep within to express yourself, your talents, your values, your unique and precious gifts? Does your work allow for a balanced life one that leaves time for family and friends, for exercise or hobbies, for you? Are you doing what you love and loving what you do? If you answered yes to all of these questions, congratulations! Theres a good chance that you have achieved what the Buddhists call Right Livelihood.If you havent yet found the work you were meant to do, keep reading. Youre about to find your true calling and when you find that calling that is uniquely yours, your life will be transformed. Guaranteed.The way to find out about your happiness, said renowned mythology scholar Joseph Campbell, is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy.Read that paragraph again. Its awesome.Now ask yourself how you feel each day as you get ready for work. It probably sounds something like this.Your alarm clock buzzes you awake. You drag yourself out of bed, dreading another day at a job thats high on stress and short on satisfaction.I guess what Im asking you is this:Are You Truly Happy Working In A Career Thats Fulfilling And Enjoyable?Because when you really love your work you greet the day like this:You dont need an alarm clock because you cant wait to get out of bed and dive into another workday where your work feels more like play.Maybe you think its too late. Maybe you believe that youve somehow missed your True Calling and that well youre not getting any younger.Nonsense. The 19th century writer George Eliot got it right when she said, Youre never too old to be what you might have been.Beverly Goodman Park from Northampton, Massachusetts is a perfect example of what Im talking about:Beverly was close to 60 when her marriage ended. At an age when most people are contemplating retirement, Beverly decided to pursue a long-held dream of becoming an attorney. A lot of people told her she was too old. Undaunted, Beverly went to law school while working full-time, passed the bar exam, and at 61, landed a job at a law firm, explaining, I thought this age stuff was baloney.So as you see, just because youre all grown up, it doesnt mean you cant find your own life mission and live it.But this leads me to my next questionHow Do You Find Work That Will Feed Your Soul?When you discover your True Calling, you may find your life taking you in unexpected directions.You see, anyone can get a 9-to-5 (or maybe for you its more like 8-to-late) J-O-B. A job is something that pays the bills but all too often fails to feed the spirit. And when your spirit is starved for meaningful satisfying work, your happiness suffers. But thats not all.Did you know that people who love what they do for a living actually live longer?Thats right. Research conducted by Duke University found that out of 788 factors considered, the top predictor of a long life in the U.S. even more than good health habits or good genes was found to be work satisfaction!I guess its not surprising then that the word Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare which means to call. And when respond to your TRUE Calling you feel renewed, fulfilled, and deeply happy.So heres your million-dollar question:Do you believe you were put on this earth to sit in commuter traffic, to suffer through the performance evaluations and reorganizations, to have to answer to a boss that is well you know. Were you really created to spend your life having the Sunday night blues?Or Do You Believe, As I Do, That You Were Put Here To Follow A Calling That Is Uniquely Yours?If the idea of loving what you do appeals to you, the way I see it here are your options: You can keep plodding along week after week hoping that inspiration will somehow, someway suddenly strike and in a flash your true calling will be revealed.Or, you can make a promise to yourself right here, right now to take the first bold step on behalf of your dreams.This is where Changing Course comes in.By the way, in case you dont know me, Im Valerie Young, the Dreamer in Residence here at Changing Course. Its been nine years since I abandoned my corporate cubicle and my 90-mile-day commute to launch Changing Course.Today I am doing work and living a life I love. And I want you to too. Thats why I went out and pooled together some of the best and the brightest career change experts around to create Finding Your True Calling The Handbook For People Who Still Dont Know What They Want To Be When They Grow Up.Experts like Barbara Sher, Barbara Winter, Patrick Combs, and Nicholas Lore, have generously allowed me to share with you excerpts, exercises, and techniques from their thought-provoking books. Through their collective wisdom, experience, and know-how youll get to benefit from their step-by-step approach to uncovering your gifts, your passion, your true calling.Simply stated, Finding Your True Calling will help you discover the work you were born to do.Barbara Sher, author of five best-selling books including I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was starts Finding Your True Calling with... a bang by.. Sharing how you can reawaken the Unique Genius within you. Then on page six she reveals the ONE (and only one) gauge you should use to determine whether you should be doing what youre currently doing. Turn to page 62 to find Five Ways to Learn and Earn by Staying Out of School. Find out how to create the ideal job on page 31. On page 23, Barbara will guide you through the steps you need to take if your family objects to your following your Finding Your True Calling. Barbara wraps up her contributions to Finding Your True Calling by exploring the notion that Life isnt short its wide. This is where you find out why all those people who insist that you have to settle on just one calling dont know what theyre talking about! Instead Barbara will show you how you can have them all!Barbaras sage and easy to follow advice makes Finding Your True Calling an unexpected treasure. But thats just the beginning.Seminar leader, enthusiastic advocate of self-bossing, and author of Making a Living Without a Job, Barbara Winter shares her winning ways for finding your lost passion. And later she tells you the one thing you absolutely MUST focus on if you want to Find Your True Calling.I Wanted Finding Your True Calling To Work For Anyone Who Dreams of A More Meaningful And Balanced Life Doing Work They Truly LoveSo I went out and found even MORE experts, perspectives, and voices. People likeBrad Swift. Brad is the founding director of the Life on Purpose Institute. After you finish reading his articles youll know how to find your lifes purpose, plus youll learn how to utilize his five techniques to prime your passion pump.Mike Bella is a recognized expert on baby boomers and if youre a boomer, youll especially appreciate his article entitled, Identifying Your Midlife Passion. After you read his contribution, youll be able to immediately use his three simple tests to identify your Midlife Passion.Popular speaker and author Patrick Combs will share his Super-Simple, Unique & Weird Job Idea Generator. Use it and youll never even think about taking another McJob again!Author and teacher Barbara Blossoms practical essay, How to Redesign Your Life One