In a perfect world we would all follow our hearts and actually get paid for it; but that’s rarely the case. The majority of us are forced to subdue our yearnings to do what we would really love to in return for a regular income and the wife’s love. Take my example – I have known since childhood that I was born to lead the life of a retired businessman. But my parents didn’t believe my gut instincts; they sent me to school, they made me slog. I could never really discern for my life what I was born to do, so here I am uniquely qualified to share 11 ways you can find out your true calling.
1. What kind of work turns you ON? – Think about it and you could be surprised at the answer that emerges from the depths of your thought processes. Think about the kind of work you look forward to now and the things that inspired you as a kid in school. You will definitely see a connection here.
2. What are your hobbies? Rare is the man that does not have a hobby. We’ve all had one at some point in time and many of us still strive to take time out for it. Our hobbies are our connection to what could have been… Very often a hobby is an expression of release for suppressed desires; aspirations that didn’t take wings fully.
3. What’s your talent? – There is not a man in the world that is totally bereft of some skill that he takes pride in, something that he would be the best at in a group of ten friends. That talent, perhaps, is your real calling. It can be anything – having the gift of gab, painting, a good voice, good looks, or great acting skills. The difficult part is to have the guts to pursue the talent through the various ditches and thorn bushes till you arrive at your destination.
4. What if you won the lottery? – This is a great exercise to objectively decide what you would really wish to do with your life if your financial needs were taken care of. It works for me. It clears away the mist and I can see myself doing social service, no seriously I mean it. After all, what’s a retired businessman that does not give back to society?
5. Take corny online tests – One wonders how they come up with the questions; the neat part is that some of questions asked in the tests are sensible and you can detect a pattern in the questioning. Try your luck with a few of these and then match their answers to your own conclusions.
6. Share the thought in a group – It can be a good idea to stir up a debate on the matter. Ask your friend what he was born to do and then play the devil’s advocate to his sincere answers.
7. What turns you OFF? – Find out what you don’t like about your work. Be objective, don’t draw up a litany of woes and include everything from the office coffee to your mother-in-law.
8. What if your time on earth was limited?- Another nice thinking / visualization idea to really get some clarity on what we would truly love to do with our time so that when it runs out we can have some satisfaction of having lived fruitfully.
9. Where are your thoughts when you are at your workstation? – This one is a dead giveaway and will surely tell you the bare facts of what you’d love to do, though it may not necessarily be the same thing as what you were born to do.
10. What if you were made dictator perpetuo? – How would you use unlimited power? What changes would be first on your agenda? What greater good would occupy top priority for you?
11. What are your most beautiful childhood memories? – The luckiest guys are those that enjoy their work and look forward to it. A lot of these people have early exposure to the kind of work they come to love. If your favorite memories are of wandering in the field collecting rocks and insects, then you were a cinch for a geologist’s or entomologist’s job.
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