This article may be freely downloaded and reproduced in electronic and/or print format. Where reproduced it must be reproduced in its entirety and include an acknowledgement and a link to new-age-spirituality.com

Find Your Life's True Vocation

Page 1 of 2 | Page 2

Definition of Vocation

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

A job is something undertaken simply to put food on the table and a roof overhead.

A career usually implies a skilled trade or profession reached after a significant period of training/education, often with scope for continuing progression

A vocation goes further than the above. It is the alignment of one's efforts and achievements with their major life purpose.

In thinking of vocation examples of selfless philanthropists such as Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer spring to mind. Admirable though these individuals may be, finding and pursuing your vocation need not involve such extremes of sacrifice.

Work for Love, Money or Both

We all need certain material things for continued survival in this world; food, shelter, clothing... We mainly exist in societies, which while providing some benefits, demand monetary contributions in the form of taxation. So love it, loathe it, or somewhere in-between we all need money, and unless born to very rich and generous parents we need to work in some way to obtain it.

Furthermore money can buy us luxuries that help make our journey through this life a little smoother. Who wouldn't prefer a nice home in a decent neighborhood to a run-down slum in crime-ridden surroundings?

The old saying goes: "work to live, don't live to work," and given our need for money there's a certain logic in selling yourself for XX hours a week to pay the bills and spending the remainder having fun.

But given that work takes up such a significant part of our waking lives, isn't it better if we can combine what we truly love with how we earn our living? This is what we do when we find our true vocation.

How to Find Your Vocation

The search for your true vocation begins with introspection, the development of self-knowledge. We may assume that we know ourselves intimately; after all we live through ourselves every waking moment of our lives. In fact much of what we do is done subconsciously. If we stop to analyze our drives, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, we may be surprised.

Take your time in building self-knowledge. True self-knowledge takes a lifetime, but of course that wouldn’t be much use in finding a vocation. But don't rush. Re-visit the task, each time deepening and enriching your understanding of your true self. Ask others too, for how we appear on the outside may be different than how we feel inside.

We are each a unique individual, living with a particular purpose. If we come close to understanding that purpose we are able to discover a vocation that will bring both satisfaction and material reward.

In particular we need to understand both our strengths and our likes (and our weaknesses and dislikes). Where there is some overlap is where our true vocation lies.

If we love something but have no aptitude for it we are unable to progress sufficiently to be successful. That is not to say we should not pursue our true desires as hobbies.

Equally, if we are naturally talented at something we do not enjoy we are unlikely to be sufficiently motivated to push ourselves to our full potential. Though in this case if our talent produces enough profit to fund a lifestyle that we do enjoy a degree of motivation will follow.

If you find your true vocation, its execution will not be a chore but a pleasure. Nothing will be too much trouble. And these are the attributes that ultimately lead to material success as well as enormous satisfaction.

job sanctum guides you through the process of identifying the occupations best suited to your unique characteristics, and offers advice on everything from locating vacancies, making applications, through to succeeding at interviews, career management and self-employment.