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Author: Stev
Vocation
A refresher re-look again at vocation. (Source: Be a manly man!)
A Job. Those who see their work as a job are those who belt out “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend” with great gusto. They live for breaks, for vacation. The job is simply a means to the end: a paycheck. They need to support their family/pay their rent, and this is the ticket they punch to do it. The job may not be terrible, but it offers the worker very little real satisfaction.
A Career. The careerist derives meaning not from the nature of the work itself but the gratification that comes from advancing through the ranks and earning promotions and raises. This motivates the careerist to put in extra time; work doesn’t necessarily stop when they punch out. However, once this forward progress stops, the careerist becomes unsatisfied and frustrated.
A Vocation/Calling. A vocation is work you do for its own sake; you almost feel like you’d do it even if you didn’t get paid. The rewards of wages and prestige are peripheral to getting to use one’s passion in a satisfying way. Those in a vocation feel that their work has an effect on the greater good and an impact beyond themselves. They believe that their work truly utilizes their unique gifts and talents. This is what they were meant to do.
“The deepest vocational question is not “What ought I to do with my life?” It is the more elemental and demanding ‘Who am I? What is my nature?’” -Parker J. Palmer
- As a boy, what did you love to do? Write? Read? Sports? Working on models? Playing with a chemistry set? Spending time outdoors? Pretending to be a solider or a spy?
I still remember a blue long notebook I had as a child. I would fill the book with ideas ranging from designing my own hotel, airport, etc to inventions such as a auto pancake maker & auto dispenser selling umbrellas, etc. Secondly was writing & playing paper (!) D&D/homespun RPG stories.
- During school group projects, what job did other students assign to you, or did you volunteer for?
Planning, leading the project, writing, presenting
- What aspects of your current job do you love, which do you loathe?
(Previous employment): loved planning & seeing the division grow; loathed traveling (driving)
- What kinds of projects and jobs at work and at home do you get excited about? What kinds do you dread?
Excited on new projects, new teams & change. Dread simple, boring tasks which take up a lot of time/a lot of running around
- Have you ever talked to a friend about a topic, a dream, or an aspiration and everything just clicked inside of you, and you felt a surge of excitement throughout your body?
About setting up a new business – cafe, bakery, training center, etc
- What things do you see other people doing that make you ache with jealousy because you wish you were doing them?
People who have built businesses & processes where they do not need to work at it daily & have the business self-running. Making only important decisions with big impact. Passive income!
- What dream has nagged at you for as long as you can remember, the thing that always pops into your mind no matter how many times you dismiss it?
Owning multiple large businesses, investments & real estate generating significant passive income.
- What fills your thoughts in the quiet moments when you’re riding the train or lying in bed? What do you think about incessantly, what captures your imagination? Politics? Spirituality? Relationships?
Growing current business venture. My beloved.
- If time, money, education and any other obstacle was a non-issue, what kind of work would you choose to do?
Business owner & investor
- What were you doing the last time you totally lost track of time?
Thinking about vocation
Or a Big Bang Theory marathon session 😉
Question
What do you think about your calling/vocation?
New Year, New Wishes
Yes I do realize it’s seven days after the new year 😉
I have never been one, much, for resolutions. Not that I think that they are all baloney or those people who do are. But because I have had a list of goals that have changed in both content & purpose over time.
What does 2013 hold?
An interesting realization is that I will be reaching the age starting with 3 this year. In certain ways I am ahead of the general bell curve of the world at my age. Yet as you get older, the more you realize that there is no need to compare with anyone – and maybe not even yourself. Not that I actually did since childhood years, except due to a grandfather who was constantly measuring my cousin & I in everything from height to studies. But I digress.
So What are You Doing Now?
In a society whereby we are commonly defined by our jobs, I am getting asked with reasonable frequency on what am I doing now. Oft by those who have just found out that I am no longer gainfully employed (not that I hide the fact at all, but rather then opposite). And also by many well wishing friends, etc (which I do welcome to ask me that question).
It was a good time to get married, think about vocation & what I want to do the next 10 years ahead. It was also a very good time to talk with people (still doing so!) & read many good books.
And now I have set down my main purpose to travel along the narrow (less traveled) road of entrepreneurship. And at the same time (partly for parents to assure them I will not starve, despite having set aside many months of savings, and partly for myself), I am looking to lecturing/teaching and/or writing. And in a way it does fit better this way as there are good linkages & symbiosis with entrepreneurship and teaching/writing.
So What Business are You Thinking of?
The initial focus & idea was towards setting up a bakery cum cafe (would be the 3rd time opening), but God leads me to a different direction. Thus am currently looking towards setting up a training center.
The current dilemma would be whether towards setting it up on my own, under an established experienced partner, or with a partner purely for funding. Praying about it!
Happy new year!
Discuss
Have you setup a business on your own before?
What are some of the lessons you have learned?
Death & Life
Thinking about death, life, and on God’s word on dying after attending a funeral service.
I always wondered why God apparently says that men will die eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fruit certainly wasn’t poisoned (Adam & Eve didn’t roll over). And God doesn’t lie.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” ~ Genesis 1:15-17
Why then?
Finally struck me that death & sin came from eating of the fruit. And death came into the world after men first sinned.
Which reminded me of another realization that struck me many years ago.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[j] and hers;
he will crush[k] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
~Genesis 3:14-15
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
~Genesis 3:17-19
That we are all made from dust. And the serpent eats dust. Thus the only way for us to be saved is for our soul to have eternal life with Christ in heaven.
Discuss
What realizations or verses from the bible have had an impact on you?
Between Opportunities – What is Work?
Currently between opportunities. Taking time off (est. 1-2mths) to think of vocation, career & getting married to my beloved Viv. The questions below are from “48 Days to the work you love” & serve as a written record for reviewing my thoughts. Also a very good time to pick up my invisible pen again 🙂
1. Who gave you your first job? What kind of job was it? How much money did you make?
A local IT company serving MNC clients as a IT support analyst paying 21k per annum
2. From looking at your work life so far, what has been the greatest value or worth?
Learning – Business, management, people, operations, etc
3. If your job changes, does your purpose change?
Should not. Defined by overarching goals which do not change just because my job changes.
4. Do you think your current job will exist five years from now?
My last job was in business development & management. Yes, I believe there will still be demand for sales & management related positions although will be much more difficult then previously & you would need to really shine as the top.
5. What would be the key characteristics of an ideal job or career?
Continuous learning, training & development
Financially rewarding
Challenging seeing goals & achieving them
6.When you daydream, what do you see yourself doing?
Writing
Managing passive income businesses & investments with positive cashflow
Meeting & building relationships with people.
7. What have been the happiest, most fulfilling moments in your life?
Quiet personal time with God
Engagement with Viv (soon to be marriage!)
Obtaining Masters in Business Administration
8. If nothing changed in your life in the next 5 years, would that be OK?
NO WAY!
Question
What would you want to change in your life?
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