Identifying Your Uncommon Vocation

Do you have a clear idea of what type of work you want to pursue in your uncommon life? Have you identified your uncommon vocation?

The official description of The Life Uncommon is a lifestyle design community that helps individuals identify, transition, and succeed in work they love. Yet it wasn’t until last Friday that I realized my articles over the past few months have been rather negligent toward the members of the community who are still in the “identifying” phase.  So for all you fledgling Uncommoners out there who are still seeking to define your uncommon vocation, this one’s for you.

Last Friday, I met with a friend of mine for lunch, who openly admits he never reads the site so I feel fine relaying this story (if you are reading, hey B!).  Between bites of his roast beef and tomato sandwich, he chatted happily about goofing off with friends, chasing the ladies, and his plans for the summer.  However, when I asked him about how his job was going, his enthusiasm downshifted to business mode and he proceeded to analytically describe various aspects about his current position.

After listening for a few minutes, I asked if he had plans to stay at his current job for a while.  His response was again more head than heart, and he spoke about business school and what would look good on a resume.

“So eventually you want to go into your own business?” I asked.

He looked at me a little puzzled, and then took another bite of his roast beef as he shrugged his shoulders.  When he had finished chewing, he said:

“Not everyone has a passion like you, Nacie.  There isn’t one thing that I’m just dying to do, and I don’t know if there ever will be.  A part of me wishes there was, but a job is just a job.”

Oh contraire, my friend…More Than a Just a Job

As far as I’m concerned, there are two types of jobs in this world: the jobs that you do to get by, and your job.  Jobs that you do to get by are the gigs that you take to pay your bills, fund your education, or help bulk up your savings.  If you are looking for a more concrete example for what a job you do to get by is, read an interview with any actor.  Almost every movie star or Broadway darling at one point in their early career waited tables, drove a city bus, or worked at McDonald’s.  Jobs that you do to get by are transient, a means to an end, and usually very character building.  I consider both my previous places of employment – my gig as a waitress and stint in the corporate world – to be jobs that I did just to get by.  They served a purpose, but they were ultimately not my goal.

Your job is the job that you want others to know you as and how you identify yourself.  It is the work you love, your uncommon vocation.  Let’s use the actors again for an example.  Even while waiting tables, an actor will call themselves an actor, not a waiter, when asked what their profession is.  Sure, the identification may be qualified with a further explanation, like “Right now I’m waiting tables, but I’m really an actor,” or “I’m an actor looking for work,” but being an actor is their job.

Whenever I hear the phrase “A job is just a job,” I always think to myself, “wrong, wrong, wrong.” A job is never just a job.  Jobs, whether you do them to get by or love them terribly, are a big part of our personal identity and shape how we see ourselves and our future.  Therefore, it is important to at least know what your job is, even if you’re just getting by right now, because it will keep your personal identity positive and forward moving. I can tell you from personal experience, if you are working just to get by with no sense of what your job is, it can get a little dicey.

When I was in corporate, I was working just to get by.  The job was a means to feeling important, the sense I was “doing everything right,” and the material things I wanted in life.  But aside from providing those ends, which in truth are pretty insubstantial, the job was negatively affecting my sense of personal identity because it continually reinforced the fact that I did not have a clue what my job was.  I was directionless, purposeless, and felt that my current job was simply a way to pass the time until I retired…forty years in the future.

The result? Slowly accumulating desperation, feelings of hopelessness, and disenchantment with “the real world.”  Bleak, bleak, bleak.

Yet as soon as I realized what my job was, things changed tremendously.  I no longer saw my corporate work as a time killer, but as a chance to earn money to pursue my passion.  The job that I did just to get by truly became a means to an end as I plotted my transition into my uncommon vocation.

The truth is, a job is never just a job, and if you find yourself saying it then chances are you don’t know what your real purpose, your real uncommon vocation, is.  But don’t worry, it is waiting for you.

Identifying Your Purpose

Recently, someone asked me how I found out what my uncommon vocation was, and as I thought back I realized that I discovered it because someone asked me a simple question, “What would you rather be doing?”

So, let’s try this.  Answer my question below, but actually say it out loud like we are having an in person chat:

“OK, you don’t see think your current job is your ultimate goal.  What would you rather be doing?”

If you just shrugged your shoulders, don’t worry.  I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than just this one!

A really helpful tactic to try (and also very fun one!) is to take an online job test.  I have found a several when I typed in “what is my job” and “job quiz” into my search engine that all told me I was supposed to be a writer (score!) and potentially a professional surfer.  I don’t know where they got that job from based on my answers, but at least the writer part is right.

While these things are reminiscent to the personality tests you used to take with your high school guidance counselor that would tell you what you should go to school for, they are actually very good places to start.  Results usually include a list of possible jobs that are meant to cover a range of preferences that can help get you thinking.  Look at every result on the list and ask yourself, “can I see myself doing that happily?”  Try to pick one or two out from the list and do some research.

Another strategy that I love is to very clearly visualize an ideal day in your life. Start from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, and imagine in detail every aspect of your day, what you do, who you do it with, etc.  After you have the thought clearly in your mind, think about the things you would enjoy doing most, and then ask yourself why you like them so much.  Take some notes and follow those leads with some research – can you weave any of these things into a job idea?

And then of course there is the age old question: If you had a million dollars, what would you do with your time? Or, the variation of, what do you love to do so much you would do it for free? While these questions are cliche and overused, they are worth asking just to say you covered that base.

Many people have found my job description exercise from The Life Uncommon: How to Leave the Rat Race, Pursue Your Passions, and Succeed Financially to be helpful in identifying what type of work they aspire to do. You can grab a copy of the eBook by clicking this button: 

Staying Open to Opportunity

As Viktor Frankl once said:

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life…therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.  Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.

While you consider what your uncommon vocation is, keep these words in mind.  Perhaps the most important thing you can do when trying to identify your uncommon vocation is to keep your eyes wide open for that specific opportunity.

So keep asking questions of yourself throughout your daily life (“why do I like this,” “what other disciplines does this concept involve,” “can I see myself working with this?”) and give it time.  When you know, you’ll know and it will be as clear as day.

I guarantee that.

For those of you out there who have already identified your uncommon vocations, what was the experience like and can you offer any suggestions to those still searching?

Tagged as: identifying, Uncommon Vocation, viktor frankl