Over the past six months or so, I have been engaged in a completely unofficial, non-scientific quest to answer the question – what are the major differences between a job, a career, and a calling? I had my own answers, but I really wanted to know what other people were thinking. What I found was interesting.
How people defined the categories
In order to get my “data,” I spoke to well over a 100 people of various ages, occupations, and genders. I then asked the subjects two questions in a particular order. First, “What do you think are the major differences between a job and a career? I would wait until they finished and then ask a second question. “What then would you consider a calling?” Here are the boiled down answers:
What makes a job – a job
Definitions and thoughts: A job is something you do so you can pay your bills in order to have lifestyle you more or less want. You might like it; you might not. It’s sometimes not very fulfilling. You get up every day; you go to it, you get through it and, at the end of the day, you are usually relieved to leave it.
What makes a career – a career
Definitions and thoughts: It is something you can see yourself doing for a long time. It has upward mobility, and you usually have very clear potential career path in mind. You’re generally good at it. You generally like what you do. You feel like you are getting ahead. There is job and financial security in a career. It can have a positive impact on people and that is a huge bonus.
What makes a calling – a calling
Definitions and thoughts: The vocation or position speaks to you emotionally and you go where it leads you. It is something that you have passion for every day and you have 100% conviction for it. It is a deeper extension of your personality and beliefs. It can connect to you spiritually. It always helps someone somehow. You can’t see yourself doing anything else nor would you want to. You would modify and change your lifestyle so that you could do it. It gives meaning to your life and others because you have a sense of being a part of something much bigger. It simply fills you up.
Another interesting finding was any vocation could fall into any category. A farmhand could have a calling and a hygienist could just have a job. That made sense to me in a way. What didn’t was how many people actually self-identified with the last category – a calling. A whopping 3 people claimed to be following or engaged in their calling? Think of the words used to describe a calling; passion, spiritual connectivity, fulfillment, and being apart something bigger than you. I can’t think of a single person that I spoke with that wouldn’t want more of that in their life, yet most of them thought they didn’t, or worse, couldn’t. Why is that?
My perception is that most people believe in order to explore, let alone engage in their passion, they’d have to give up something, change something, or do something completely unfeasible. How can thinking that way potentially hold you back? Maybe the better question is – how could thinking that way potentially move you closer? Let’s see.
- If you could spend just a sliver of time in your career or life completely engaged in the exploration of your calling what would that look like to you?
- What things could you willingly give up if it allowed you the ability to do it even if it was only for a short moment?
- How could you change your day, week, or month around so that you could engage in your potential calling, even for a little while?
- What can you do to make any part of this feasible?
Some folks may be clinging to the belief that exploring, answering, and eventually following your calling is out of reach. Based on how peopled described a calling, it has the potential to be a wonderful way to live your life. If your open to it, do a little soul searching and see how you can get a little “calling” in yours. Who knows, maybe you volunteer, maybe you do it part-time and if you’re lucky, maybe you could make it a living.
