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calling
November 2008 
Calling
Posted on Jun 27th, 2007
by 
George
George
I've always enjoyed thinking about the question "how do we find our calling?" and during my final semester at the Presidio MBA in Sustainable Management program I came up with the following model.
You may have heard the quote that "your calling is where your deepest joys & talents meet the world's deep needs." I've taken that idea, added a 4th factor, and some questions to help explore these four areas.
Imagine a Venn diagram with 4 circles:
What you find in the center or union of those four circles is likely to be your calling: it is what you'll enjoy doing, would excel at, what the world needs, and takes into account your family history, connections, and obligations.
One of my mentors, the founder of Presidio School of Management, wisely noted: "You won't know your calling until you've done it." Still, this model should assist in intuiting your path of passion and purpose. Try it and let me know how it goes!
Your (tribe/family) history:
What do you enjoy?
What does the world need that gets your attention?
What are you good at?
You can also gain lots of insight by asking the opposite questions:
I welcome your suggestions/comments!
~ George Kao
You may have heard the quote that "your calling is where your deepest joys & talents meet the world's deep needs." I've taken that idea, added a 4th factor, and some questions to help explore these four areas.
Imagine a Venn diagram with 4 circles:
- What you're good at
- What you enjoy doing
- What the world/market needs
- Your tribe/family history
What you find in the center or union of those four circles is likely to be your calling: it is what you'll enjoy doing, would excel at, what the world needs, and takes into account your family history, connections, and obligations.
One of my mentors, the founder of Presidio School of Management, wisely noted: "You won't know your calling until you've done it." Still, this model should assist in intuiting your path of passion and purpose. Try it and let me know how it goes!
Your (tribe/family) history:
- List what kinds of work your family, extended family, family friends, and close friends have found success or ease. Is there a pattern? You're likely to find a knack for doing well in those fields, or to have advantageous connections into these fields or industries.
- In addition, ask the above question about hobbies instead of work. What are the activities that engage your family and friends, outside of their jobs, particularly utilizing skills that might be turned into job or business? Many people turn their hobbies into livelihoods.
- Do you have family obligations that will affect your choice of career? (For example, a family business.)
- What job/career offers have you received from family members or friends?
What do you enjoy?
- What kind of work do you find so engaging that you can lose yourself in doing it?
- Or it may be easier to start by answering: what kinds of work do you know you do not enjoy?
- Think back in your life - back to college, then back to high school, elementary school, and even earlier. What work-type activities (activities that could be valuable in a career) did you enjoy?
- What do you (or would you) love to do outside of work?
- What kind of work would you love to do if you knew that you cannot fail?
- Imagine that you just built the perfect business, and it's something you would do for the rest of your working life. What does that business look like?
- Imagine that next year you don't have to work. What kind of activities (other than relaxing!) would you do?
What does the world need that gets your attention?
- What ethical, social or environmental issues have always grabbed you? Again, to help jog ideas and get to the essence of who you are, think back to earlier in your life to college, high school, elementary, and earlier.
- What changes need to take place for the society or world to make it a better place?
- What is your stand (as in "take a stand for something") for your community, your country, the world?
- What does the market need? In other words, what do people want that isn't yet being sold, or not sold in convenient enough places? What else might people pay for?
- What product, service, or thing do you really wish could be improved?
- What does society / the world need that the market hasn't yet recognized? Imagine the future and what might be needed.
What are you good at?
- With what kinds of activities or roles or skills do people seek your help?
- What have you always been good at? Remember to consider your college, high school, elementary school years.
- What kinds of things do other people find difficult/tedious but you find easy/enjoyable?
- What kinds of work have you been a “point person” or leader in?
- What skills does your resume boast?
You can also gain lots of insight by asking the opposite questions:
- What do you know you are not good at?
- What do you know you would not enjoy doing?
- What doesn't the world need? What doesn't the world need more of?
- What has your tribe (your family and friends) not been good at?
I welcome your suggestions/comments!
~ George Kao
Access: Public
Calling is a powerful word, as in “power filled”. It's got juice. It's got buzz. I once was holding an antenna cable when lightning struck the antenna, or close enough to it for the lightning to reach right through the thick insulation and hold me there until it was done with me. I think that's a reasonably good metaphor for finding your calling (or being found by it, which may be closer to the truth.) In other words, finding and practicing your calling is like holding lightning in your hand. To have realized your calling is to go to work in the morning knowing that you're doing what you were put on this Earth to do, that it will genuinely help, and that you just might feel like mighty Thor from time to time doing it. (Yeesh, watch out! That's what G.W. Bush thinks he's doing!)
In my experience, the frustration and challenge comes when you have a visceral sense of the following:
What makes a calling different from a logical choice is the lightning bolt (or more often many small sparks) of inspiration. The inspiration might be to suddenly realize the degree to which your logical choices have put you where you need to be, or it might be an opening to something you had not previously considered at all. I propose that since inspiration bursts into our consciousness from somewhere else that we do not directly control, the key is to cultivate enough permeability for inspiration to get in, and enough sensitivity to notice when it does. And when lightning does strike, you've got to stay grounded (sorry, I couldn't resist.) to be able to channel the impulse into a practical framework, especially if you are (or are pretending to be) a business person in a suit. Ungrounded people with lots of inspiration are often ineffective or counterproductive, especially in the field of sustainability.
So after a long ramble, here's my suggestion. Being open and sensitive to inspiration while simultaneously keeping both feet firmly on the ground is a learnable skill, and it's a skill that energizes a channel through which callings are delivered.