Your Calling

I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of a "Calling", or even pursuing one's passion as a guiding principle. In Office Space there's a scene where Peter suggests he works at his thankless job because he never had a passion – a thing that he would work on if money wasn't an issue. Michael replies:

No, you're working at Initech because that question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars.

I have other reasons for being cynical about the concept though. First, I think we change a lot throughout the course of our lives, and what we're passionate about today will very likely not be what we're passionate about tomorrow. Also, having the means to drop what we're doing, pick another career, and train for it is a privilege that very few people enjoy. Does that mean that callings are only for the very well off? Lastly, the idea that if you're not super-charged with purpose and passion at your job you're somehow failing at life is too much pressure – never mind that all of this assumes that careers are the end-all and be-all of meaning, and there's no other way to be a productive member of society except through our jobs.

With that said I have made career moves that have nudged me more and more towards work that is in line with my values. Doing so has made a huge difference in my life and I wish I'd made those moves way sooner than I did. So I think there is something between a capitol C "Calling" and being intentional about the direction we are pointing in life. In a book called Are You Fully Charged Tom Rath talks about the idea of Job Crafting. This is the idea that we can find ways within our current careers, whatever they may be, to build meaning and have impact. This is a really important point, in that same book he points to a Gallup poll where a measly 20% of people reported doing work that was meaningful the day before.

I suspect that the fear of switching jobs is somewhat a generational thing. I was extremely hesitant to even consider leaving my first job, so were most of the people I know my age. And it seems that our Baby Boomer parents were part of that time period where staying with a company for life was fairly common. Either way there seems to be a shift, we're seeing articles with titles like The Great Resignation, pointing to a massive number of people changing jobs. Some of that movement is in response to how companies treated employees during the pandemic but some is also due to people seeking more meaningful work.

I like to see this. I like the idea that people are starting to be more deliberate about where they spend their time and energy. I also like the idea that companies may have to start paying way more attention to how they treat their employees, as well as what kind of impact their overall business has and whether that may attract or repel workers who are now paying more attention to that kind of thing.