How often do you wake up in the morning with bothersome thoughts, that you should change something in your life? Whether it’s a job you don’t enjoy, or restless relationships, which makes you miserable, or even the length of your hair. On the one hand, this kind of “itching feeling” is overwhelming; on the other hand, it makes you move forward with your life, set new goals and, eventually, find your place in life.
It’s normal to take some time to know what we want. Don’t rush it.
Most likely, you’ve heard stories of ingenious people, who started developing their skills in early childhood and, eventually, became successful. For instance, Mozart composed from the age of five, already being competent on keyboard and violin. Undoubtedly, this case is inspiring, but let’s face the fact – it is exceptional. Most people need to put more efforts to find the true calling in life and to become professionals. But it shouldn’t intimidate you. In fact, a well-known American psychologist Abraham Maslow used to say: “It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement”.
If you want to succeed in life, finding your calling is a step you have to take.
Apart from an obvious endeavor to be happy, research has shown that knowing your purpose can add up to 7 years of life expectancy.[1] Furthermore, how can you achieve any kind of success if you don’t follow your dreams? May it be the simplest or the most sophisticated thing, you need passion in order to succeed.
So, after realizing that you do need to find calling in life and, moreover, to benefit from it, there’s only one question left – where to start from.
15 Ways to find your true calling in life
Ask yourself questions about how you feel about your life
Start with questions. Are you satisfied with your job, with your schedule? Are you surrounded by people who care about and support you? What do you love about your life and what makes you miserable? Those questions seem to be easy and you may frequently ask them to yourself, but usually, we don’t pay that much attention to them simply because we’re busy or frightened to face the truth.
Make a list showing what you love and hate
Write down in a column what you love and hate about your life, including the smallest details. Now, as you have it in front of your eyes, try to do more of what makes you content and avoid those things (or even people), that upset you.
Take a test to find out what you’re good at
Of course, you’re aware that you are good at math and have no ambitions to become a pop-star. But sometimes people tend to over- or underestimate themselves. That is why it is useful to take some tests, which can help to reveal your strengths and weaknesses. Try StrengthsFinder assessment or VIA Character Strengths survey, for instance.
Combine your strengths and interests
As you have found out what distinguish you from other people, combine your strengths with your interests, and think of how you can benefit from that.
For example, if you’ve decided that tying work schedule is not your style, and have started to work as a freelancer, knowing your strengths and weaknesses is valid. Only after you’ve found your niche, you can build a strong personal brand, which will speak for itself.[2] There are hints that monitoring and designing your online presence should be one of the first steps of your personal brand establishment.
Say yes to odd opportunities
Do you remember the movie “Yes man”, in which Jim Carrey, as the main character, challenges himself to say “yes” to every proposal the entire year? That is a great trick to get out of your comfort zone and to add some adventures to your life.
Follow your own dream instead of someone else’s
Your mother may be sure that you’re going to be a brilliant lawyer, but if you just don’t feel like that, you’ll never be satisfied with this position. No matter how much money you’re going to earn and how fancy your apartment will be. If it’s not your passion, it’s not going to work.
Surround yourself with motivated and successful people
Undoubtedly, our environment influences us a lot, including those people around. How smart, motivated and successful your friends and relatives are? Do you see them as role models? It doesn’t mean you have to avoid your family and stop answering your friends’ calls. Instead meet new great people, who will inspire you and share your vision, an English business magnate Richard Branson, recommends.[3]
Embrace every possibility you might have
Life has its own plan for you. So stop grieving your unfulfilled goals and set new ones. Do not worry if you get off track. Eventually, it’s an imaginary one.
Learn from your mistakes
Stop perceiving your mistakes as failures. As Scott Berkun says: “We’re taught in school, in our families, or at work to feel guilty about failure and to do whatever we can to avoid mistakes. What’s missing in many people’s beliefs about success is the fact that the more challenging the goal, the more frequent and difficult setbacks will be.”[4]
Learn how to let people go
You may think, it has nothing to do with finding your life calling. Well, you’re wrong. When you forgive old grudges and get rid of anything that is weighing you down, you realize how much energy you’ve been wasting.
So finish burdensome relationships, stop contacting with people, who constantly hold you down, and start something, you’ve always dreamt about but never had enough time. Take a course of French or go to the salsa class, for instance.
Stop thinking and start acting now
“Thinking is the thing that prevents people from acting,” YouTube star and filmmaker Casey Neistat has told Entrepreneur.[5] While thinking too much, you are creating lots of blocks in your mind. Remember, until you start the engine the machine will not move, so the more activities you try, the bigger is the chance to find the one for you.
Be consistent and never give up easily
Whether you’re learning how to play guitar or starting a blog. It’s like physical training – the result comes with regular exercising. Once you decided to find your calling in life, make a little effort every day, getting acquainted with an interesting person or reading a book about self-improvement.
Use Reminders not to forget to set daily goals and to carry them out.
Think out of the box to be creative
You may start with something simple like cooking a new recipe or creating a mood-board. Why would you need that? One creative process gives rise to another. Especially, if you’re working in the creative industry, you just never know where inspiration comes from.
Read books or at least watch videos to get inspiration
There are so many people in the world, who have been already dealing with the problems, you’re dealing right now. Maybe they are going to become your role-models or mentors in your search.
For example, here’s a TED talk of Adam Leipzig, who claims to know how to discover your life purpose in just 5 minutes.
Enjoy the process of searching for your passion
Don’t make a race out of your search. Remember you’re looking for passion to be happy, so make the search itself an exciting process.
You may not realize that, but the day you’ve decided to change something in your life and to find your purpose is the beginning of your journey itself. A strong desire is the first step to success. The second one is action. So start from this exact moment and, no matter what, try to have fun.
Reference
| [1] | ^ | Association for Psychological Science: Having a Sense of Purpose May Add Years to Your Life |
| [2] | ^ | AVEX: Tips For Building Your Personal Brand |
| [3] | ^ | Virgin: Surround yourself with great people |
| [4] | ^ | Scott Berkun: How to learn from your mistakes |
| [5] | ^ | Entrepreneur: How YouTube Sensation Casey Neistat Succeeded in Making Ads for People Who Hate Ads |
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