The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

(Chris Devlin) #1

be moving.
We often think of a calling as something that comes to
us, an epiphany that arrives when we least expect it. But the
truth is, in some ways, it’s already come. You already have
some sense of what you’re supposed to do with your life,
even if you aren’t sure what it is. The trick is to find your
vocation hidden in your life. That’s what I learned the
moment I started thinking of myself as a writer. I went
looking for answers and found that some of them were
already in me.
We all want to “just know” what we’re supposed to do
with our lives, for our purpose to be spelled out for us, but
that’s not how a calling works. It’s never clear and hardly
ever obvious, especially when you’re starting out. But when
you start to take those first steps, when you commit to some
course of action, you begin to see what was there all along.
Most of us have some sneaking suspicion that there must
be more to life than this. We understand we each have a part
to play in a bigger story. Even if we aren’t sure what that is,
we know there’s something. Those “lucky” few who find
their callings testify to this. They knew there was a purpose
out there, and they were determined to find it. The way that
they did this was by taking the first step, by overcoming the
myth that “you just know” and deciding to act anyway. And
they learned, as you might, an important lesson: clarity
comes with action.
At a certain point, you must acknowledge this nudge, the
hint of a whisper that says life has been holding out on you.

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