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

by Jeff Goins

maybe the way it’s supposed to work.

most of us are hardwired for a handful of activities that when combined lead to our greatest satisfaction and best work.

our life is made up of what we do.

instead of thinking of your work as a monolithic activity, what if you chose to see it as the complex group of interests, passions, and activities it is?

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, like mowing the

lawn or spending time with your family. Study work is any intentional education that contributes to any work you do in the future,

gift work is any volunteer experience...

organize their time not based on hours in a week, but rather days in a year.

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.

an unshared dream is only a fantasy, an illusion.

Your taste in music, the kinds of books you enjoy, even your favorite foods all contribute to the person you are and the portfolio you’re creating—and therefore, make up your calling.

But for those who are willing to listen to the voice of calling and pay close attention to their lives, such a purpose may be known.

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

What if our work was meant to not only serve the world but to make the worker better?

When the world seems to conspire against you and when everyone around calls you a failure, true masters keep going. Even when others don’t understand, masters recognize their allegiance is to a higher calling than pleasing the masses.

what looks like irrelevance now can lead to legacy later.

True mastery is about greatness, about doing something that pushes the limitations of what others think is possible or even sensible.

approaching one’s life as a creative work.”

understanding your potential and then dedicating your life to pursuing that ideal.

Because the craft deserves it, because the calling requires it, and because maybe you’ll be a better person for it.

as a tool to make us into who we were born to be.

“Success isn’t about money. It’s about setting a goal—and then achieving it.”

If we could make this change and think of work the same way we think of play, treating it as something we do for pleasure, it could change the world.

Our job is to see work as a means of making us better, not just richer, people.

Flow is the intersection of what you are good at and what challenges you—where difficulty and competency meet.

that feeling you get when you are in a state of flow: “You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger.”

We are caretakers of our vocations, stewards entrusted with a vision that is bigger than us.

your calling is a gift, one that is intended to be given away.

bring our skills and passions together in a satisfying, meaningful way.

It’s something that will not leave you alone, a beckoning toward the work for which you were made.

A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.

Your calling is not a job. It is your entire life.

poverty is more than a context. It’s a mindset.

feeling guilty, in and of itself, doesn’t accomplish anything.

your giving doesn’t have to be a by-product of your success; it can be the very thing that drives it in the first place.

The smallest moments, the ones we think are insignificant, are the ones we will cherish the most.

As you endeavor to do something amazing with your life, don’t forget that without people to support your dream, your work will always be incomplete. A life filled with achievements and accolades but lacking those people necessary to celebrate those moments is not much of a life at all.

becoming someone good—and letting that goodness impact the world around you.

When it comes to vocation, we need some boundaries as well, parameters that allow us to focus.

“Now I become myself,” May Sarton wrote. “It’s taken / Time, many years and places; / I have been dissolved and shaken, / Worn other people’s faces.”

You must become your calling, a choice that happens only if you make it.

Every day you and I face a choice: to either pursue our authentic selves or a shadow of the real thing.

Fulfillment isn’t just for the elite few who find a purpose for life; it’s for everyone.

You have everything you need to be your whole self; it’s already in you. Now you just have to become it.

Sometimes, a calling is simply accepting your role in a story that is bigger than you.

The easiest way to miss your calling is to ignore the call.

Another way to miss your calling is to treat it as an event instead of a lifestyle. Remember: your vocation is more of a magnum opus than a single masterpiece.

Success isn’t the goal; legacy is.