Do you have a job, a career, or a calling?

Do callings exist? If so, what are they exactly? This blog post is the first in a five-part series exploring callings. I’ll consider what they are, how to find and cultivate them, and more. Today I explore the definition of a calling and how it differs from a job and a career.

After ten years of working in the corporate world, I found myself burnt out, tired, and unmotivated. New tasks felt heavy as opposed to exciting and my usual drive for learning new things at work was non-existent.

I started questioning my choices: If this is the job I wanted, why am I feeling this way? It’s a great paying job with many opportunities, so why do I feel dread when I arrive at the office? Did I make the wrong career choice? Did I study the wrong subject? Is it me? Am I fickle?

This line of inquiry merged with feelings of guilt for spending most of my time at the office, away from my toddler and parents who were struggling with serious health issues. I asked myself: What is life all about?

Now, as a mindfulness coach who helps people discover their calling, I see many clients asking themselves similar questions, spurred by their experience during the pandemic. Their main question is a variation of: My work feels like a drag, there’s so much more to life than work, so should I stay, or should I go?

The challenge is, as research shows, that we know exactly what we don’t like about our jobs, but we don’t know what we actually want to do (Ibarra, 2014).

What exactly is a calling?

Delving into the research and from my own experience, I can tell you three things:

1. Callings are not a myth.
2. There are tried and true methods to finding them.
3. We can have multiple callings in our lifetime.

The sociologist Robert Bellah recounts that while the term “calling” is a nod to the church, it’s evolved to generally mean work that deeply fulfills you (Bellah, 2007). Bellah also conveys that callings are one of three ways to relate to work; the other two are jobs and careers:

A job is transactional; you do it because you get paid.

A career is motivated by benefits and future advancement; you do it because it offers you stability and possibilities of future growth and better benefits. A career might also act as a stepping stone to other jobs.

A calling is fulfilling — you’d likely do it even if you weren’t receiving payment. While a calling can include professional growth, the thought of a promotion is not what motivates you. It can have aspects that are tedious, but it is mostly fulfilling.

While jobs and careers can be important in our lives, a major difference between these work orientations and callings is how they make us feel. Having more money doesn’t make us happier after a point, but work that we feel is worthwhile does.

Additionally, a calling can have these characteristics (Wrzesniewski, et al, 1997):

• It’s inherently rewarding.
• It’s hard to disentangle life and work because the work is so enjoyable.
• You believe it makes the world a better place.
• You feel like you would choose the work again if given the opportunity.
• You enjoy talking about it.
• You enjoy it so much, you would do it even if you didn’t get paid.

People who associate their work with callings tend to be happier at work and in life (Choi, 2018), even if they also have challenging aspects. And while callings can be an integral part of our identity, they are just one dimension of a meaningful life (Cech, 2021).

Why is a calling different from a job or a career?

Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski and her colleagues at Yale University picked up where Bellah left off, studying what made callings different from other work (Wrzesniewski, et al, 1997). They discovered that callings were different because they are meaningful (Rosso, Wrzesniewski, et al, 2010). What’s more, two different people can have very different perspectives about the same work.

Would you like to find out if you are in a job, a career, or a calling?

If yes, download the free self-assessment.

You can also listen to this podcast episode to explore this topic further.

Embodiment practice to connect to your calling

What does a calling feel like to you? Emotions are felt in the body, and we have the power to discern them (Barrett, 2017).

I invite you to take a few moments to connect with the sensations of your body. Explore the sensations that are present in your body, from the top of your head down to your toes, with kindness and without judgements. When in your life have you felt fully engaged and alive? What activities were you doing? Were you at work? Were you participating in one of your hobbies? How did this feel in your body?

Do you have to quit your job to find your calling?

The short answer is no. In my next post I’ll give specific, science-based strategies to help you start finding your calling without having to quit your job.

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I’m a certified Coaching with the International Coaching Federation and Gallup Strengths Coach. If you’d like coaching on how to incorporate these steps into your life, I offer a free Chemistry Call to see if we’re a good fit.

References:

• Bellah, Robert N., et al. Habits of the heart, with a new preface: individualism and commitment in American life. Univ of California Press, 2007.
• Cech, Erin A. “Loving Your Job Is a Capitalist Trap.” The Atlantic, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/11/danger-really-loving-your-job/620690/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2022.
• Choi, Ye Eun, et al. “Calling as a predictor of life satisfaction: the roles of psychological capital, work–family enrichment, and boundary management strategy.” Journal of Career Assessment 26.4 (2018): 567–582.
• Ibarra, Herminia. Working identity: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Harvard Business Press, 2004.
• Rosso, Brent D., Kathryn H. Dekas, and Amy Wrzesniewski. “On the meaning of work: A theoretical integration and review.” Research in organizational behavior 30 (2010): 91–127.
• Wrzesniewski, Amy, et al. “Jobs, careers, and callings: People’s relations to their work.” Journal of research in personality 31.1 (1997): 21–33.
• Barrett, Lisa Feldman. “The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization.” Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 12.1 (2017): 1–23.