Through my youth work experience, I can see more and more youth finishing their studies and not knowing which direction to go. They feel useless, confused, less motivated and disheartened mainly due to the pressure to start work in their profession … when the inspiration to dedicate their life to it … is lacking.
I went through the same situation when I finished my studies. I didn’t want to work in my profession but still I was not sure in which direction to go. Then I went through my own path of self-discovery and found out that I want to dedicate my life to become an exemplary leader and empower others to do so.
Through out our life many doors will open, but we have the opportunity to choose which door to venture through.
If we don’t know what we want to achieve in our life, choosing any door can be a mistake and we may finish spinning in circles or even going in the wrong direction. But when we set the rite target we can progressively move forward to achieve our goals , using all the opportunities that come our way to help attain that target.
Understanding our life call is a long and tedious process. But don’t worry, we’ll help. Since this isn’t a thing you can master in a week, and it may take up to 5 years, there is no need to rush, there is nothing to do but to be present and receptive.
For some it will come quickly and for some it won’t, but we should not be discouraged. We are speaking about how to utilize the rest of our lives in the right direction. It is definitely time, well worth investing. You can do it ☺
So let’s go into the three levels once again. You’ll need a piece of paper and some introspective time to write things down. It will help you have a better perspective as we dive deep.
Working on these three levels will help you to reveal all the elements you need to overlap to finally find your Life call. This is also why it can take some time to do it but it’s definitely worth it.
Be a better leader: Understand yourself first
This time we’ll start with the second level, or psychological level. To reach its maximum potential – we need to reveal our unique predispositions and where we can be excellent. We can discover this by observing what we are good at and what deeply motivates us in life. You can take your pen and paper and write down the following:
Talents
- What am I really good at?
- What are my greatest strengths according to people who know me best?
Passions
- Since childhood, what have I always love doing?
- If money was no obstacle, what would I spend my time on?
After writing, try to see the bigger picture and find the area where your passions and talents overlap. This will give you a glimpse of your unique potential. Take a bit of time for this as well.
The next level is the physical level. In order to maintain our selves we need to take care of our bodily and economical needs. Taking care of this level grounds us, it helps us to stay real, concrete and consistent. We are doing this one second because change comes from within. After passing the inward psychological level we can find our connections with the outside. Now take that piece of paper again and answer the following questions.
Needs
- Where and how can I help society with what I know?
- What do I know that people would be willing to pay for?
Now, having all the information must have set a few bulbs off, right? We can now go even deeper with this information. Take your predispositions and overlap them with your needs. This will make sure that the life direction you choose will be the one which will strongly motivate you, one you will excel at and one you will be able to maintain yourself with! Pause now and take time with this. It’s a lot of work but taking the first step is what gets you to the top.
Last but not least is how to tackle our spiritual level and discover our life purpose. In order to do that, we need to become seekers and start questioning things around us. Sometimes we cannot see the forest from a tree, so we need to try to remove our paradigms and test our beliefs, to get out of the comfort zone and be deeply present.
This will, on a personal level – help us define our life goals and see what we want to dedicate our life to. On the leadership level it will help us spread our horizons and reveal how we can make the biggest contribution to our life and life of others. Now pause again and write down the answers to the following.
Purpose
- How can I best help and serve others?
- Is there something I have always felt I should do in my life that I’ve ignored through the past? What is it?
Revealing the third dimension will give us purpose in life, ensuring continuous motivation and conviction that we are on right track.
Overlapping these three dimensions will help us to define our Life call. Following it will guide us to make wise choices to achieve sustainable success in our lives.
On top of that, when we learn to discover our life call we will be able to help others to find theirs. Then you can ensure continuous motivation in your team and set a common vision for the benefit of all.
Remember we are speaking about something which will change course of your whole life so it’s definitely worth investing time in to it. All the best!
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SOURCES:
- Filip Brničević, Joyful Leadership Manual
- Brničević, F. (2018). Discovering your Life call. Unpublished
manuscript, O.A.ZA., Zagreb, Croatia. - Covey, S. R. (2005). The 8th habit: From effectiveness to greatness, New York, NY, US: Free Press