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

by Jeff Goins

your life matters, your life is significant, and things are happening that you don’t even fully understand yourself.”

Maybe we all have the power to turn our lives into significant stories if we start to see our difficulties as opportunities.

We can’t control what life throws our way, but we can control how we react to it.

we have to let go of what we think we deserve and embrace what is, which just might lead to something better than we ever could have imagined.

In spite of what we say, we don’t want happiness. It’s simply not enough to satisfy our deepest longings. We are looking for something more, something transcendent—a reason to be happy.5

Frankl learned there are three things that give meaning to life: first, a project; second, a significant relationship; and third, a redemptive view of suffering.

Dwelling on the past or fixating on the future won’t help you find fulfillment.

What we all want is to know our time on earth has meant something. We can distract ourselves with pleasure for only so long before beginning to wonder what the point is. This means if we want true satisfaction, we have to rise above the pettiness of our own desires and do what is required of us. A calling comes when we embrace the pain, not avoid it.

The trick is to know when to listen to your fear and when to not.

In any great narrative, there is a moment when a character must decide to become more than a bystander.

Before you know what your calling is, you must believe you are called to something.

It doesn’t matter if you know what. In order to cultivate awareness, you must be willing to act, to step out and see what happens. And once you are convinced that purpose will not find you, that you will have to go in search of it, you are ready.

A calling may be many things, but it is not fair. Still, you must answer it.

Most people waste the best years of their life waiting for an adventure to come to them instead of going out and finding one.

They knew there was a purpose out there, and they were determined to find it. The way that they did this was by taking the first step, by overcoming the myth that “you just know” and deciding to act anyway. And they learned, as you might, an important lesson: clarity comes with action.

At a certain point, you must acknowledge this nudge, the hint of a whisper that says life has been holding out on you.

What we need, then, is not a map, but a shovel—a set of tools to start digging.

A calling is what you have when you look back at your life and make sense of what it’s been trying to teach you all along.

Fear, indecision, not knowing—these are the obstacles that keep you from moving forward. And they never go away. But if you are going to find what you were meant to do, you will have to act anyway.

Listen to your life.

finding your vocation is less about grand moments of discovery and more about a habit of awareness.

awareness doesn’t just happen; it must be cultivated.

Your life, though a mystery, is trying to tell you something.

You can’t find your passion if you don’t push through pain.

Committing to the wrong thing is better than standing still.

The risk of not committing is greater than the cost of making the wrong choice. Because when you fail, you learn.

Each wrong choice grows your character and strengthens your resilience, readying you for what comes

next. Failure is a friend dressed up like an enemy.

But if we learn to endure, choosing to see the hidden balm in the wounds of failure, we can grow from our mistakes. We can overcome our obstacles and turn tragedy into triumph. We may even be able to celebrate those setbacks and trials, the things that once seemed so daunting, knowing they are all signs that we are on our way.

He needed something to disrupt his comfort, something painful to make him realize what was important.

Listening is where finding your calling starts, but it’s not where it ends. Our ears can only take us so far before our hands have to do the rest of the work.

Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come. —UNKNOWN

Practice is essential not only to achieve excellence but to clarify the call itself.

The ancient art of diving deep into a specific craft all but disappeared.

We are all products of our environment, influenced by the people we encounter and the places we live.

Finding your calling will not happen without the aid and assistance of others.

Your journey, though unique, is full of fellow sojourners, as well as teachers who will help along the way. Your job is not to find them but to recognize them when they appear.

A teacher who challenges you, who doesn’t meet your expectations, who forces you to think and act differently, is exactly what you need. That is, after all, the job of an educator.

Fortune favors the motivated.

When you pursue a calling, you will find a community of supporters to champion you along the way.

You just need to keep your eyes open. Accidental apprenticeships are all around you, and if you listen to your life you’ll be able to recognize them.

A good apprenticeship isn’t about an exchange of information; it’s about passing on the skill of the master and multiplying it.

We don’t need more jobs. We need a better way to equip people for what they’re meant to do.

Every place you go, every person you meet, every job you have is a chance to gain greater clarity in your self-education. Life is the classroom, and if you are paying attention, you can recognize the daily lessons available. Each day is a new page in a textbook you never complete, and as you sit in the student’s seat, you realize the apprenticeship has already begun.

An accidental apprenticeship begins with listening to your life and paying attention to the ways in which you’re already being prepared for your life’s work.

choosing the opportunities you need to create your life’s work.

At the times when you feel stuck, the right thing to do is take a risk and go “all in” with whatever the scariest option might be.

persevering until passion became reality.

ability of the human spirit to endure.

power of community,