Your Vocation Calling

The Power of Reaching

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What are you reaching for?

Hating What You Do

I have a friend who has been stuck hating the same job for the past two years. He HATES what he does. Sadly though, it seems like every time we chat and the question of ‘So, how are you doing?” comes up, I always get a flat lined “I’m doing…” or some sarcastic variation. Then there is mumbling/grumbling about how impossible it feels to find something new.

“Have you been sending out your resume?” I ask.

“Nope.” He replies.

“Have you been looking for options?” I ask again.

“There’s nothing out there anyway.” The unspoken next line is something like: “I’ll be stuck for the rest of my life.”

Well, two years so far…and that’s as long as I’ve known him.

I’m not sharing this in judgement. I know what it’s like to be so broken you don’t know how to move forward – to be totally lost, and to have weeks bleed into months, and months burn into years with zero (or really hard to see) positive change.

It sure seems like the harder it gets, the more tempting it feels to look – and keep looking – down. And down becomes your mindset….and if you don’t change that downward focus, it’s where you end up. Down.

What Are You Reaching For?

I’ve been reading Zig Ziglar’s “See You At The Top.” What a powerful book!

If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal. – Zig Ziglar

You have to envision where you are wanting to go. You need to see yourself getting there, and what getting there will look like BEFORE you actually do it. ‘See the reaching.’

The sad truth, which I have read multiple times over the past few days in Zig’s book, and have experienced in my own life, is that this ‘seeing the reaching’ can be positive as well as negative!

If you all you can see and envision are your feet, and how awful your job is, and how you’ll never find a way out because ‘nobody is hiring these days anyway’ you’ll wind up in the same dead end job you’ve had for the past 2 years….for the past 3 years…for the past 4 years…for the past…. you get the picture.

It’s a powerful point, and a scary one if you’re not looking where you’re going!

What are you seeing these days? What are you reaching for? And if you were to change nothing in your life for the next three years, will you be happy about the result? 

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Taking Time To Matter

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Work isn’t meant to be empty. It’s meant to connect our skills and passion to someone else’s need, and when that happens, our work matters. It becomes meaningful in ways that engage us in mind, heart and soul!

The Trap of Doing 

I see amazing people where I work. I see medical staff who have a list of procedures to tackle each shift that would likely make my mind melt, but I love to watch them step outside their processes and engage the people they serve. I see hand holding. I get to see busy care workers sitting close and listening as one of their charges shares a random story or event of their day. I see food being served with care and love. Smiles!

Then I see others who get sucked into their task list. They don’t make eye contact – too busy for that. They don’t see the lady sitting in the corner, her head down all by herself. And because they didn’t see her, they didn’t stop to see what was wrong or just to say hello.

The care worker finished the task on the procedure chart, and maybe it was a vital thing to do. Maybe it was time sensitive. Maybe they were keeping a supervisor happy, but they missed an opportunity to matter to someone they are there to serve.

Taking time to matter to someone you serve doesn’t have to break a process on your to do list. It should become a part of it!

How can you take or make more time to matter to someone else today?

Finding Purpose By Focusing On Others

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At it’s core, finding your purpose means learning more about yourself and then developing your strengths and interests. And engaging in conversation — even when the discussion is primarily focused on someone else — hits on several tenants necessary for adult learning and development. As adults, we learn best by actively exploring topics, pulling from our life experiences, and collaborating with others. When asking questions, we can’t help but reflect on someone’s responses and try them on for size in our own life. Further, providing insight, guidance, and direction create an ideal environment for personal growth and discovery. Giving advice to somebody else is frequently the best way to convince yourself to take that advice, too.

Asking someone else questions about what they’re good at or enjoy doing causes us to reflect on how we’d answer the same questions. Even if you don’t say a word about yourself, you leave these conversations with greater clarity about your own purpose. – Robin Camarote The Unexpected Answer to Finding a Purpose In Your Career.

Find Purpose By Knowing Yourself: The more you know about how you work, what you like to do, what you hate doing, what seems to come naturally to you vs. what you have to force yourself into, the better. How can you move your work and career into a space where you’re doing things that come naturally to you, where what you do each day fills you with energy instead of drains you physically, mentally and spiritually, and where you’re doing work you actually love!

Find Purpose In Serving Others: Purpose grows when you serve others in meaningful ways. See a need, fill a need. How are you serving today? Maybe the work you love has you behind a desk, or chopping onions in a hot kitchen. Your purpose, regardless of where you do your work, is still connected in some way to making someone else’s life better. Can you explain how you do that each day? If not, try to come up with some ways. How are you lifting someone else up by what you do?

Find Purpose in Asking Others: As Camarote points out, you can find amazing insights about purpose and meaningful work/careers by talking with people who have gone ahead of you, or who are deeply engaged in building work that matters. Ask questions like: why do you do what you do? How did you get started as a _____________? What do you like the most about what you do? I’ve found that people tend to be very open and happy to share their journey with someone who is genuinely interested.

How are you focusing on others today?