The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

by Jeff Goins

Climate is what we expect. Weather is what we get. —MARK TWAIN

There is a process. And every single step of the way is marked by trust.

The process of finding and claiming your calling is a journey, one that requires you to leave what you know in search of what you don’t know.

Process

We must listen. But we must also act.

strange incident that sets his life on a new course. This is how calling happens: not as a lightning bolt, but as a gentle, consistent prodding that won’t leave you alone until you act. That you respond to the call, not how, is what makes it extraordinary.

“you don’t have to want to be a writer. You are a writer. You just need to write.”

And once I grasped my identity, the activity followed.

This is why apprenticeship is so important. Often, discovering what you’re meant to do with your life doesn’t happen until you have spent significant time serving someone else’s dream.

She didn’t know where it came from or why it was there; she just knew she had to trust that feeling. “Even though my head did not know how to make it work … my heart felt so right,”

Answering a call will sometimes feel that way. It won’t make sense and may even open you up to rejection and criticism, but in your heart you will know it’s right.

they understood the why behind what they were doing.

the beauty of a bridge is you don’t have to see too far ahead in order to get to the other side. You just have to take the next step.

you use a map to travel from one state or province to the next, usually a relatively short distance, whereas you use a globe to travel the world.

The path to your dream is more about following a direction than arriving at a destination.

some risks are worth taking and that as we take them, opportunities often open up.” And so far, it has worked out.

It will take a few tries before you get your calling right. Failure isn’t what prevents us from success, then. It’s what leads us there.

A pivot is powerful because it takes away all of your excuses. It puts you back in control of the game you’re playing. Pivoting isn’t plan B; it’s part of the process. Unexpected things will happen; setbacks do occur. Whether or not you’re prepared to pivot will affect how well you weather those storms and find a way to survive.

But pain is the great teacher and failure a faithful mentor. You can use all of this to your benefit if you are willing.

Failure is the best friend you will ever have if you learn from it.

Robert Greene wrote in his book Mastery, “Repeated failure will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done.”

he came alive, finding the thing he was born to do.

A calling is not merely a moment; it’s a lifestyle, a constant progression of submitting to a larger purpose.

We can change directions and try new things, learning as we go. Your life’s work is not a single event, but a process you are constantly perfecting, finding new ways to put your passion to work. And you do that one pivot at a time.

‘What if we stopped saying what if and started saying let’s?’

You are not just waiting on your calling; your calling is waiting on you.

Dreams are powerful. They are fuel for change.

The point is he tried. He didn’t stay stuck in the dream and instead adopted an attitude of doing.

The Portfolio Life A New Kind of Mastery The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways. —ROBERT GREENE

“I realized I could never go home.”

portfolio life,”

“A portfolio life. It means you aren’t just a writer or a husband or a dad. You are all those things, and you need to embrace them.”

Most authors I know live portfolio lives.

They didn’t do just one thing but instead embraced a diverse set of activities that formed a complete identity. This is the way the world works now—and maybe the way it’s supposed to work.

By the year 2020, 40 to 50 percent of the American workforce will be freelancers. By 2030, it will be the majority.

People are not robots, programmed to do one thing. We are multifaceted creatures with many varied interests.

Charles Handy in his book The Age of Unreason. In the book, Handy lays out five different types of work that make up your portfolio. They are: fee work, salary work, homework, study work, and gift work.

fee work means trading hours for dollars and a salary is a fixed income based on a job description.

Homework is work that you do at home,

Study work is any intentional education that contributes to any work you do in the future, like reading a book or taking a vocational class.

gift work is any volunteer experience you might do, including giving your time to a local homeless shelter or even taking someone out to lu...

a calling is more than a career; it’s the purpose and direction of your life. Which means that it doesn’t just apply to what you do; it’s who you are.

Having a portfolio mindset toward work will make you a more well-rounded person and set you up for success in this new economy.

Home Face it: not all of your life is work, and that’s a good thing.

Play I don’t like the word hobbies. To me, those are things you never intend to take seriously. But we all have things we do for the pure love of the activity, regardless of whether they ever provide an income. Psychologists call this activity “play.”

play lifts stress from us. It refreshes us and recharges us. It restores our optimism. It changes our perspective, stimulating creativity

highest expression of our humanity.”

Purpose There must be something bigger than what you do that guides you through the choices you make, the risks you take, and the opportunities you pursue.

what do you secretly want to do? Do it.

You can have a breakpoint and reinvent yourself. Sensible people reinvent themselves every ten years.”6

For him, it wasn’t about the money. It was about the craft, about honoring the work and doing what was his to do.