A Job, A Career, or a Calling

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” — Andy Warhol

A job a career or a calling? Which do you have? Which do you want? Or the better question…. How do you discover your calling?

A quick primer, a job usually sucks, you flip burgers, work some hourly job. It ain’t great but usually a good place to start ones work life. A career is a bit different. Here you have some domain expertise, you have skills, you can love it, you can hate it, you can make a nice living, or get by. There is a path for improvement, and skills to hone. Then there is a calling, which is what you are meant to do. It inspires you. It is why you want to wake up in the morning. It is what you want to become the best at. Not sure what yours is. That’s OK. Most people don’t.

I have a trick to help you find it. Like everything in life, follow the money. Your calling tends to be something that you are paying to do. What are you spending lots of time, effort and money doing? Start looking here. For most of us this is the promised land. If you can figure out a way to make a career doing something that you now invest a lot of time and money in…. you get the idea.

A calling can also be a matter of mindset. A doctor can practice medicine for the paycheck and it is a career. Or she can look at it as a calling to help people get better, and change patients lives. A school janitor can clean floors. With a different mindset that same action now helps students to perform at their best. By creating a clean environment to learn. Why are you doing what you do?

One can also move from a career into a calling and from a calling back to a career. I have been fortunate enough to have had two callings in my life. My first calling was to own nightclubs. It was all I thought about, all I wanted to do. I loved the energy, the culture, the drinking, the fun. I loved connecting people, making them happy. Creating environments for people to get away from their everyday lives. It became the focus of my life. I put my heart and soul (and my money) into different nightlife related businesses. I kept at it, worked non stop and after 15 years ended up creating one of the most famous nightclubs in the world. The lifestyle and bad business partners soured me, and I left that biz. I eventually came back. This time it was no longer a calling, it became a career. I had domain expertise, the skills to be successful, but the passion disappeared. I worked for a paycheck.

I am an artist, which is my other calling. I have painted for as long as I can remember. I have spent countless hours and dollars creating over the years, I still do. Art supplies, classes, time, all to create. For decades I never showed anyone my work, I created as I needed to create. I was scarred to admit that I was an artist, embarrassed to share my work. As the years progressed so did the work. It was time to put myself out there, show people my art. Easier to say than to do, sharing in spurts and starts. I would share, fear and self sabotage crept in. I made excuses why being an artist wasn’t for me. Stopped creating and went back to my “real” job. I knew art was my calling. The need to create kept pulling at me. I always started to make art again. I needed to be honest with myself and own my lifework. I needed to commit to it, 100%. I needed to let the world know, scream atop my lungs about it.

So after over 40 years of life on this planet I committed to support myself as an artist. There I said it. I back that up with action and do the work everyday. For now my former calling supports the art, but not for long. As I took ownership of it, and decided that this is life I wanted, the universe conspires to help me. Support has come from a dozen different directions. It requires tons of work, and I am scarred, excited, but above all, deeply satisfied.

I know how lucky I am, grateful that I have found two callings, when most rarely find one.

Look for what fulfills you, what scares you, look deep inside yourself, listen to your heart. If that doesn’t work, look at your checkbook Where is the money going? It may point you towards your calling. Figure out how make money instead of spending it, and you will be on your way. But remember the work starts once you commit.

Shawn Kolodny is an artist, writer (almost), and entrepreneur. You can check out his artwork here.

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