Living with Purpose: Should I Follow Calling, Vision, Passion or Purpose?
Self-development and personal growth have been around since the first person decided to improve their life. The earliest self-help text can be traced back to 2800 B.C., a letter of advice from father to son, The Maxims of Ptahotep, in which he promoted the importance of moral behaviour and self-control.
Walk into a bookstore today, and it is easy to be overwhelmed by the number of self-help and advice books. Still, it is online where true insanity exists, with thousands upon thousands of online articles dealing with various aspects of self-development and improvements. And it is easy to drown in the different terms and their subtleties, according to thousands of self-proclaimed self-help gurus.
A while ago, I sat listening in the middle of a conversation that soon turned into a battle of wills. And at the heart of the argument was the disagreement on whether we should use purpose or vision, calling or passion and a few other terms you will regularly see in weighty self-help tomes.
The beauty is that language uses combinations of words (which all are metaphors) to make meaning. The problem appears when we all have subtly different interpretations of those words. (Don’t believe me — See your closest social media forum for evidence of subtle misinterpretation and the havoc it can wreak.)
I am a purpose coach, and in working with my clients, I often run into some of the more seemingly misunderstood terms floating around the coaching world. And hopefully, we can make sense of them and share a simple structure to find a home for them all.
So here are some of the sometimes misunderstood terms (my interpretation):
Purpose:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
There is a simple definition for purpose: Your reason for being.
It is also the reason why we do something or create or why something exists.
It is at the heart of everything as it asks the question: Why?
Why are you here? Why do you do what you do?
Some refer to a purpose as the state of being — that state in which you represent the best possible version of who you are. Others state that your purpose is that elusive goal you should strive for and the legacy you want others to remember.
I believe that purpose is all that and more. It is who you are right now when you show up at your best, it is who you want to be at your best, and it is how you want others to remember you. But, it is also how you show up and offer yourself to the world as a gift.
Purpose is an inner force that draws you to the being you want to be and the world you want to create and be a part of becoming.
Your purpose is the guiding light in how you live your life. It is the north start that always directs you and pulls you along in times of abundance and in time of hardship. Having a clear purpose gives you resolve, motivation, and resilience when the path gets tricky, and the light is murky.
The purpose of our lives is to be happy.
— Dalai Lama
Quick Exercise —
Complete the following statement:
It is my true life purpose to … (complete with less than 10 words)
And if you cannot find a purpose readily available, here is one for free:
It is my true life purpose to be happy and share that happiness with the world!
In my work with my coaching clients, this theme relates to around ninety per cent of all the purpose statements that they come up with after deep reflection.
A life of purpose permeates every aspect of our existence. It informs our personal lives, relationships, connection to nature, career choices, and every other part of life you may consider. Leonardo da Vinci himself said:
“Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.”
Calling:
“I believe there’s a calling for all of us. I know that every human being has value and purpose. The real work of our lives is to become aware. And awakened. To answer the call.”
― Oprah Winfrey
A calling is a strong urge towards something, which may be an event, the work you want to bring to the world, a person, a group of people, an object, and much more.
In the Hero’s Journey the inciting event in the hero’s world is the call. It compels the hero to start on the journey to the new world they want to be a part of becoming.
Callings show up in many forms; a crisis, an adventure, an unease and others. There will be many calls to adventure in life, some of them compelling, some of them forced on us and some we choose to ignore. Likewise, there will be false calls and true calls. The true calls are those that bring us closer to our purpose, and the false ones are those that distract or take us further away from our purpose. But, again, the decision to answer the call becomes very simple when you have a well-defined and well-lived purpose.
With any call, there is always the free choice of accepting the call or refusing it.
Embracing the call will set us off on adventures and possibly misfortunes, but it will bring you personal growth and expansion, regardless of how the journey plays out.
Refusing the call will keep you in the world that you are inhabiting. It will constrict and limit the options available to you and limit your growth and development. Often the continuous refusal of calls will lead to the eventual stagnation and even extinction of who you are.
Sometimes the call can be so strong and aligned so closely to the purpose that the two are virtually indistinguishable. This type of call perseveres to the extent that it becomes irresistible and integrates itself into the very being of the person that receives it and guides them down a path that they must forge for themselves. It is this overwhelming and robust call we refer to as a life calling.
“Vocation does not come from a voice out there calling me to be something I am not. It comes from a voice in here calling me to be the person I was born to be.”
— Thomas Merton
Quick Exercise —
Step 1: Listen to the calls:
If you think about your life at the moment, what are the calls you hear?
What do you yearn for that is missing?
What do you dearly want to be present?
What signs are there for you to change?
What is pushing you?
What is pulling you?
What crises are manifesting in your life?
Step 2: Evaluate the calls:
For each call you hear, evaluate it against the question:
Will answering this call bring you closer to your purpose, or will it distract you and take you further away from your purpose?
And then:
Step 3: For each of the calls that will enable your purpose:
How will this call to adventure support your purpose, and what will the outcome be of pursuing it?
Vision:
“When you have a vision that is strong enough and powerful enough, nothing can stand in your way.”
— Lewis Howes
Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. As such, vision is something that has a time limit on it. Therefore, when we define a vision, we will describe the period within which we want to accomplish something significant. A common forecast time-frame for vision can start with a vision for 3, or 5, or 10 years.
“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” Steve Jobs
Vision creates a statement of a future that does not yet exist and that you wish will play out for you. And if this vision is a powerful and clear one, it will pull you with the power of its possibility.
A good vision includes your hopes, dreams and aspirations. It incorporates your deepest held values and beliefs and supports you in living closer to your purpose.
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”
— Joel A. Barker
Quick Exercise —
Step 1: Reflection:
Describe who you want to be, where you want to be and what you want to do?
What is your window (5 years/10 years/other)?
What are the major goals for each of the significant parts of your life?
What values and beliefs will support you in accomplishing this?
What are your strengths?
What will be the critical accomplishments necessary to accomplish your vision?
What will challenge you in achieving what you want?
What will inspire you?
Step 2: Craft a vision statement:
Write down a concise vision statement that combines the results of your reflections.
Ask the question: How will this vision support your purpose?
Adjust your vision and/or your purpose through considered thought.
Your vision provides the bedrock on which you build your action plan. A vision aligned with your purpose creates congruency between your reason for being and your planned accomplishments.
Passion:
“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.”
— Steve Jobs
Passion is the capacity to hold a strong feeling or emotion. We often represent passion as a critical requirement for a life filled with joy, fulfilment and happiness. Passion is a great motivator and an excellent driver, but sometimes it is instrumental in leading us down very suspect routes to failure.
I interpret passion as a great and powerful calling. But, like many callings, it may be a true call to adventure or a false one. And like every other calling, we should investigate it carefully and decide how it supports the purpose of our lives.
Passion comes and go. Sometimes passion diminishes in the face of the relentless effort of often mundane work tasks that still moves us closer to purpose. Other times it survives and blooms stronger as we grow closer to what we see our true state or our reason for being.
Quick exercise —
Reflect on the following questions:
What creates passion in you?
How does your passion support your purpose?
How might you find passion in pursuing your purpose?
How can you cultivate a passion for doing the things that will bring you closer to purpose?
How can you redirect or let go of passion that takes you away from your purpose?
In Conclusion
The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. “
— Carl Rogers
Living a good life is a consequence of being thoughtful about what is important to you in such a life. It requires considered thinking, deep reflection and the courage of self-discovery.
In such a life, purpose, calling, vision, and passion are all building blocks in building the foundations needed. It is up to you how you will construct your foundation, and it is your choice which building blocks are the ones that work for you.
An invitation:
If any of my writing raises questions for you, please connect with me on and ask me anything that comes up for you in reading my work.
I wish you well in your journey to purpose.
Stay safe and healthy.
