What is your life’s calling? What are you supposed to do with your time here on Earth?

If you’re like most people, you don’t have an immediate answer to these questions. Society has trained us to be like mice and chase the cheese that is put in front of us. We believe we’re supposed to live our life within a certain framework and if we step one toe outside of that, we’re failing. That’s a very limited view of life, one which I drastically disagree with.

My question for you today is: What is your life’s calling? I’m not asking what job you want to have but rather, what is your work. What’s the difference you ask? Let me explain.

A job is something you do in exchange for compensation. It provides a means for survival and advancement through Maslow’s Hierarchy of life. You don’t have to be tied to your job. At any given moment, you can walk away or be fired. It is not a part of you.

Your work, is your life’s mission. This is a major part of your very essence as a human being. You can’t be fired from it. You can however, fail to acknowledge it, and fail to embrace it. You can ignore it, but you can’t walk away from it. No matter where you try to run to, you’ll always feel that sense of unfulfillment. You’ll know something is wrong. Deep down inside, you’ll know that something is missing.

Here’s an example, my job is to take care of patients as a doctor. I get paid for this and I enjoy it. However, that’s not enough for me. When all I do is care for patients, deep down inside, I’m unfulfilled. My work is to help others reach their God-given potential. As a doctor I do that by improving health and survival, as a mentor and coach, I do that by getting in the mind of other people to teach them how to thrive.

The next logical question you should have is, how does anyone know what their work is? Well, let me explain. God has given all of us special gifts. We all have something in our lives that we’ve noticed (or someone else has pointed out) we’re particularly good at. My eureka moment came during medical school when a Dean pulled me into her office to tell me that people want to hear what I have to say. At the time I didn’t realize the significance until more and more happenings confirmed her statement. One of my gifts is discernment (rightful understanding) and the ability to innovate a solution. I feel most satisfied when I see that translate into success for someone else.

Have you ever taken a moment to evaluate your gifts? What are you uniquely great at? Don’t say nothing, we all have something. It might just be that you haven’t taken the time to develop it yet. After you’ve identified what that is, think about how to best use it to bring fulfillment into the lives of others and yourself. That’s your life’s work!

Rise Up! Don’t just reach, but become your potential!

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