Purpose-Driven Career:
Occupation
Apply Your Strengths and Talents
Your occupation is what you do with your time to fulfill your purpose by applying your unique talents and strengths for something.
Use your occupation to fulfill your purpose by applying your unique talents and strengths
We often find the most happiness and fulfillment when our work aligns with our abilities and our purpose to help the people that we care about.
Our occupations are the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ in our journey towards fulfilling purpose. They are the means to apply our talents and resources. If your purpose is to enable all people to have healthier lives, then your “what” is to deliver new medicines, and your “how” is by using your science and business skills.
If there’s a mismatch of your occupation and your purpose, then it becomes a chore to go in to work each day. There’s a time and place to show persistence. But 90,000 hours in a career is a long time to show grit towards something if it doesn’t fulfill your purpose and you can’t see how it’s helping people.
Even if you get a steady paycheck, even if you get promoted, it’s still not going to be meaningful if your occupation and your purpose don’t align together. We often find the most happiness and fulfillment when our work aligns with our abilities and our purpose to help the people that we care about.
Discovering Your Talents: Strengths And Skills And Resources
The purpose that you have is in helping others in the way that you are most uniquely suited for.
- Your boss at work might not know all your strengths.
- Your job title does not define who you are or all your strengths.
- Your additional strengths may come from outside your work setting.
Think about all the special abilities and gifts and experiences that you may have. Also don’t forget any crisis in your life either. Sometimes, God gives you those crises to help you develop additional abilities to help others.
Servant Leadership
You do want to make sure to get a mindset of servant leadership as a key part of how you fulfill your purpose.
Remember to use your special talents, strengths, skills, and resources to help people.
The rare individual who unselfishly tries to serve others has an enormous advantage. They have little competition.
Dale Carnegie
Even when the people around you are not doing the right thing, you should still do the right thing. That’s what a true leader does. Do the right things even when no one is watching.