How to Find Your Calling When You Feel Lost in Your Current Job

Three small tests to uncover your work that matters most

I was thirty-eight when I uncovered my calling as a writer. I’ve written most of my life, but I didn’t put the pieces together. Some people find their calling when they’re ten. Some in between. Others on their deathbed. Some never. It doesn’t matter when you discover your work that matters most, only that you find it.

Whether you want to build a startup as an entrepreneur, you want to freelance, or build a side-hustle — your calling is much more than a day job.

I was lost for a long time.

I though it’d be cool to be a real estate investor. I did that. Then I lost a quarter-million dollars in property to the 2008 market crash. That may not be much property where you live, but in Michigan that’s three houses.

I thought it’d be cool to be a marketing consultant, save for the fact that cold-calling (let alone cold-talking) people makes me want to puke. I promptly gathered myself zero clients after a year of chasing the wrong work for me.

I thought it’d be cool to give small business and investment advice, but I felt like a fraud, because I was such a failure in my own businesses. I had developed a large platform with tens of thousands of followers, wrote a dozen books, had a large book of virtual coaching clients (I learned my lesson with the phone), and promptly shut it all down at its peak, because the work didn’t match who I was at my core.

I sold door to door.

I ran a grocery coupon business.

And a landscaping business in high school.

I day-traded, because that’s where the money was (until it wasn’t).

I tried again. And again. Rinse. Scrub. Repeat. Fumble.

Until I stopped chasing the money.

The money, I found, isn’t the goal. Money is a byproduct — a fortunate output after years and thousands of hours of the right input. Money isn’t a thing to strive for. It’s not a calling. When someone asks you what you do, you can’t say “I do money!” You can’t write money on a mortgage application underemployment.

Yet, so many of us chase the byproduct and not the calling.

It’s such an easy trap — the money-chasing. I was neck-deep in it most of my adult life. Money’s always there. Poking at you. Begging you to make more so you can spend it on cool stuff. And around the wheel we go. While the entire time there’s this nagging feeling in the back of your neck that something isn’t quite right.

What’s a calling?

Let’s start with what a calling isn’t. A calling is not necessarily a passion. It could be, and bonus for you, but many times isn’t. A passion is something you’re crazy about. Maybe you’re really passionate about football, but you have neither the genetic makeup, nor the skill to turn it into your work.

We fall into the passion trap a lot. Sometimes we chase the wrong work and end up burned.

A calling is the work you’re wired to do. The kind of work you were either born to do, or grew to do. These are the behaviors deep in our brains that we can’t run from no matter how much we’d like to.

We can develop new habits. We can re-wire our brains for new, stronger behaviors, but the calling — this is more primal than learning to meditate everyday or lose ten pound before summer. Your calling is your work that makes you feel whole.

Every time I write about calling I include this quote from my design professor.

This one sentence has made such a profound impact on my life, I can’t help but share it often:

Your job is what you do, but your work is who you are

Your work is your calling. This is where we find purpose. Our work is the reason so many people have trouble in retirement. They wrapped their identity with their work and now the work is gone.

Retirement is a discussion for a different day, but for now, let’s uncover your calling.

Find yours

When I found my calling as a writer my days became much more fulfilling. Although the working hours were longer, the time didn’t matter. I work in flow-state. My heart rate is so low it looks like I’m meditating. Sunday evening isn’t a dread day anymore. I look forward to a new week of work.

A calling doesn’t mean the work is easy. Nothing good is easy.

But when we find our calling the effort we put in is part of the journey. The effort leads to enjoyment of purpose. Work we hate might be unbearable for three minutes, yet can practice our calling sixteen hours at a clip with no worries.

I have three big milestones I use to uncover a calling:

The ten-year-old test — What kind of behaviors (not necessarily specific activities) did you enjoy when you were ten years old? Remember, we’re wired for our calling. It doesn’t change much over a lifetime, but it can take awhile to discover.

Did you love being alone or with others? Did you pay attention to details and rules, or did you like the big picture and hacking your own path through the jungle.

Did you love to make a mess or put everything in order? Were you a leader or follower? Innovator or chaser? Did you read or run? Look back. Think hard. The information is there. I used to have clients who really had a hard time with this and thought it was childish. These were the people who were most-lost… and had waited too long to find their calling.

The tribe test — I realize I said money isn’t a calling. But if our calling can’t earn us money, we won’t be able to pursue it for long. The tribe test is your research project. Is there a large enough group of people out there who also enjoy your calling. A group willing to pay you money for the work you do.

Maybe you like to make spoons out of soap. Try getting a bunch of people rallied around slurping soup through a bar of Ivory. Not going to happen.

We all need a tribe for our work to thrive. The tribe doesn’t have to be big. You can make a great living from one thousand true fans (Google Kevin Kelly’s article). But you’ve got to have a core group of followers who want what you’ve got and they’re willing to buy more in the future.

I still have a day job I enjoy. My tribe is steadily funding my calling and will soon surpass my day job. Then I can practice my calling full time. You don’t have to quit your day job to pursue your calling. That usually only works in the movies.

The endurance test — How long can your body handle your calling? This is especially true if you choose physically-demanding work. Is your work dangerous? How long can you mind handle your calling? Can your practice your work for long periods of time, or do you need frequent breaks? This is the time to be realistic. We’re choosing what we want to be when we grow up, here.

Endurance is a personal choice. I know people who’d rather die at their desks, working, than die at home, doing nothing in a recliner. You know the answer for yourself. The road will be hard for many years as you get your work off the ground. It will get better too. Can your work pass the endurance test?

We need you to find your calling

When you find your work that matters most you help us too. You produce innovative ideas and products to help us get what we want from life. You help us grow by showing us the way. You help us thrive, because you live such a fulfilled life you can’t help but give back.

When you do work you hate it becomes nothing more than a job.

We need you to find your calling.

Your tribe is waiting for you. Everyone’s got one. It just takes some longer to find theirs than others. It’s not a race. No one gets the power to decide your calling for you. I don’t care if they’re a parent, teacher, or guru. Only you know what you’re wired to do.

This may take experimentation and time. It did for me.

However, the time spent is worth it. Wouldn’t you rather uncover your calling now, rather than live your life wondering if you made the wrong choice of work? It’s time to get out there and experiment.

We’re waiting for you.

August Birch (aka the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. A self-proclaimed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indie authors how to write books that sell and how to sell more of those books once they’re written. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.

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