A few months after publishing my first book Explore, I found myself in a place where I began to question and wonder what my true calling in life is. My passion for creating things that not only look good but also that enrich the lives of those that use them, often gets lost in the mix of deadlines, breakdowns in communication and life itself.
In the midst of this one email in particular stood out as I cleared my inbox one morning. It was an invite to become a part of a group reviewing Jeff Goin’s new book, The Art of Work, and as an avid reader, I would be pretty crazy to turn down a free book, especially one by an author I admire.
Even though I’ve been a subscriber to his newsletter, and even participated in a few writing challenges, I wasn’t prepared for the journey this book ended up sending me on.
It can be tough to understand things like passion and success when all that we can see is failures and obstacles, but if we stick it through, eventually the sun does come out. One of my favorite quotes from the book sums it up really well.
You can’t find your passion if you don’t push through the pain. – Jeff Goins
[bctt tweet=”Purpose in life can not be obtained when things are going easy, but only when we’ve been put through the fire.” username=”dsmy”]
No matter how many times we get knocked down and kicked while we’re down by life is the end, unless we choose to not get back up and not give in until we’ve given it everything we’ve got.
To enjoy the things we’re good at we must endure the things we dislike and put in this work needed to achieve excellence and rise above mediocrity. These were just some of the things I gained from reading this book. To say it was remarkable would be a true disservice and I’m not one to be easily impressed.
Jeff covers how to find your calling in a time where it is often easier said than done. If there has been ever a moment where you wanted to truly explore life and find your calling, The Art of Work is a good place to start. We all are given a finite amount of time, no sense in wasting it bickering over things that in the end don’t matter.
Each chapter was like a gentle nudge in the right direction of discovering rediscovering my calling. I did struggle with one thought however..
What if I have multiple callings?..
This was one question I was curious to see if the book would answer, luckily it did. Having multiple callings is okay. Generally at first we’ll begin to feel pulled towards various directions, and after awhile we will find that they tend to flow into just one. It’s when we become comfortable and forget the virtue by which we’ve been called to serve is where the problem lies.
In an era of human history in which we prize comfort above nearly every other virtue, we have overlooked an important truth; comfort never leads to excellence. – Jeff Goins
You either act on what you know, or you miss your moment. – Jeff Goins
Even though I happen to be passionate about writing, photography and many other things, they all lead essentially to a path of bring those things to a higher level of excellence, and while on that path these things will take me beyond my comfort zone. The search may begin with one’s passion, but continues on as long as one is brave enough to keep going.
Success isn’t so much what you do with your life; it’s what you leave behind. Which may be what a calling is all about: leaving a legacy that matters. – Jeff Goins
Sure we’ve made to believe that success is amassing wealth and fame but did we have to lose our ability to dream as well?
Finding your calling is one thing, however, the only way we’ll end up finding our true calling that is something more than just an ego driven way of life is if we learn to become humble.
Humility is a prerequisite for epiphany. Without it, your dream will be short-lived and self-centered. – Jeff Goins
One major point that Jeff makes is, finding your calling is messy, but worth rolling up your sleeves and doing.
These are just a few of the goodies this book has to offer. I strongly suggest that you grab a copy, maybe even one for a friend as well. The Art of Work is more than just another book promising you the moon, it takes the everyday things we often take for granted and helps us to see the bigger picture of our individual lives a little clearer.
Amazing job Jeff! May God bless you greatly in your future endeavors!
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