Choosing a Vocational Path: Discovering Your Passion and Purpose
- Evan Johnson
- Dec 1, 2024
- 9 min read
Choosing a vocational path can be challenging, with many theories and approaches to guide you. The journey toward discovering your passion and purpose in life evolves over time. With so many options and possibilities, it can feel overwhelming. For some, it's hard to know where to start; for others, it seems like they've known their calling in life since birth. What is your passion and purpose in life, and how do you know your true vocational calling? In this article, we're going to introduce some of the important elements or factors that are worth considering as you begin to explore your passion, purpose, and vocational path.
Our Life Stories and Narratives
Everyone has stories about the journeys they've been on in life. These stories often contain insights into a person's unique interests and talents. Some of the details in each person's narrative can be traced back to memories of childhood or adolescence, where a person was naturally doing what they loved (without any concern about how good they were compared to others at an activity, or whether it would make them money).
Take a moment to reflect on that; there are plenty of twists and turns on the path of developing one's interests and talents. Encouragement or discouragement from family, friends, teachers, and others can strongly influence one's vocational journey.
This topic is fundamentally important for living a meaningful and satisfying life. It is essential that each of us discover our passion, purpose, and talents. We will individually and collectively benefit from this as the world evolves and our communities and institutions depend on it.
Our global human community is filled with an amazing diversity and potential for growth and development. To support this journey of living the best version of ourselves, let's discuss how our families and education influence us.
The Influence of Family and Educational Experiences
In many ways, the family cultures and educational systems in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, share similarities. Specifically, there are similar features that stand out as a result of the influences from a western European paradigm.
Although every family and school may be unique, there are some common generalizable themes. First, many families and schools tend to value and encourage specific types of abilities and interests, academic or otherwise. Analytical or critical thinking and reasoning, expressed in written and numerical form, are two areas of ability that are frequently emphasized. These are very important and useful skills. However, there are many other types of human abilities and intelligences.
Another feature that influences people in their family and educational experiences, are the hierarchy of subjects, and their order of importance. This order is usually ranked highest starting with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). In second place, might be language skills. In third place might be the humanities. And in last place might be the arts. Within the arts, there may be a hierarchy with music and visual arts having priority over theater and dance.
Reliance on various forms of assessment, including letter grades, grade point averages, and percentile rankings, are another influence on children and adolescents within families and educational programs. This pressure to perform and compete against others in standardized testing is a narrow view that emphasizes which types of knowledge and interests a person is expected to learn about and understand. It also suggests that competition is a favorable approach to cooperation.
There are numerous cultural and historical reasons for this, which we won't dive into in this article. The bottom line is that most of our family and educational systems are designed to prepare people for, and to serve, the economic interests of mixed market economies that blend some form of democratic governance with capitalism (free market efficiency) and socialism (social welfare). The Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America had a big influence on the culture of families and educational institutions. It shaped the social, academic, and vocational fabric of society, and disabused the pursuit of activities that didn't fit in to a narrow view of the types of intelligence and abilities that would contribute to the economy.
A one-size-fits-all approach marginalizes people with diverse abilities and unconventional or neurodiverse intelligences; those whose passions and purpose may be more aligned with creative thinking and intuition, rather than with logic and rationality. As a result, many people pursue vocational activities that their parents or teachers (or other adults in an authority role) taught them to value (even though they don't really care about them), and for financial security. Now, let's be clear, there's nothing wrong with wanting financial security and needing to pay the bills. The point here is that there may be a problem with focusing on this as the primary motivation for choosing a vocational path. This rarely leads most people to finding their authentic sense of passion and purpose in life. So, let's discuss what factors are worth considering when searching for and choosing a suitable vocation.
What are the important factors to consider when exploring a vocational path?
There are at least four main factors to consider when it comes to exploring a vocational path. These factors include:
aptitudes (or abilities);
passions (or interests);
attitudes (including beliefs and personality); and
opportunities (with the people, places, and things that allow us to succeed).
Aptitude is a natural ability or potential talent for learning and doing something. Passion is a powerful feeling or emotion that attracts or compels us to want to do something. Attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about something, usually reflected in our behaviour. It's a perspective about our selves and our circumstances. Opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
When we can identify and understand the things we're naturally gifted at; take delight and pleasure in doing the things that make use of our gifts; want to make use of our gifts, believe in our gifts, and expect good things to come from using our gifts; and we seek out, create, and take advantage of the right opportunities (such as connecting with the people, places, and things that are associated with our gifts and passions); we can integrate the components needed to decide on and commit to choosing our vocational path.
In addition to interests (or passions) and abilities (or aptitudes), there are some other factors that can be very helpful for exploring your vocational path. These can include your transferable skills (skills that are useful in a variety of careers, based on things you've learned or performed in your past/present education, life, or work experiences), work activity preferences (such as preferences for working with data, people, and things); personality type and intelligence (unique style of cognitive functioning, thinking, and understanding); learning style (seeing or visual, auditory or listening, hands-on or experiential, etc.), and values (the things that are important to you in a career, employment, or work environment).
So, please take a minute to reflect on our list of important components or factors that may help you to begin to discover and explore a vocational path:
Aptitude and Abilities
Passions and Interests
Attitudes and Beliefs
Opportunities
Transferable Skills and Strengths
Work Activities and Preferences
Personality Types
Multiple Intelligences
Learning Styles
Values
What have you noticed has come up or emerged in your reflection? Are there any specific thoughts, feelings, or actions you are experiencing about these factors? What questions do you have?
Next, let's discuss thinking differently about intelligence and using our imagination to be creative in the zone.
Thinking Differently and Using Our Imagination for Creativity
We need to challenge how we typically think about our abilities and the assumptions we make. Most people use their senses to understand the world around them and process information in a logical and rational way. Most of us assume this is normal. It's not so obvious how people use intuition to recognize patterns, understand the world around them, and make decisions. We take it for granted when we use our senses. We tend to think of intelligence in terms of our ability to use logic and rationality to analyze things. We try to quantify it with standardized testing, including Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests. However, intelligence cannot really be measured in a linear method. It is not static, but dynamic.
The real question we should consider asking ourselves is, how are we intelligent? Psychologists like Howard Gardner believe we have multiple intelligences, such as linguistic, musical, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. According to this perspective, we all have different strengths in different intelligences and our academic or educational systems and labour markets should provide opportunities that regard this diversity of abilities. Human intelligence goes beyond mathematical or verbal reasoning. These types of intelligences are expressed in a variety of skills. It is dynamic, interactive, and distinct in each person. So, let's not take our diverse abilities and strengths for granted. It's not really accurate or fair to test people, give them an intellectual score on a linear scale, and stamp them with this label for life. This is a narrow view of intelligence. We are much more capable than that.
We all have the capacity for using our imagination and for creativity. These unique powers are part of our intelligence. It is behind every human achievement and creation, whether it be with language, art, science, or philosophy. We bring an idea or image to mind and then we figure out ways to create it and bring it to life. The creative process is a journey that begins with generating new ideas and imagining possibilities. It involves developing our ideas using judgment and implementing them through action into something tangible that we can experience through our senses. Creativity goes beyond just using our mind; it requires using our feeling, intuition, coordination, and more. The power of creativity is that by learning how to change our minds and hearts, we can change our lives.
If we're using our hearts and doing what we love, regardless of the activity, it can transform our experience so that we are focused with intention, living in the moment, where it can seem like time and space disappear, and there is a merging of our mind, body, and soul. If you've ever had a peak experience or being in the zone, you'll know it. Maybe it has been while acting in theatre, writing, playing music or sports, creating art, or any variety of other activities. Becoming lost in the experience, can feel incredibly blissful. There's a sense of freedom, authenticity, and being naturally true to ourselves. It's more fluid and things flow easier as though we are connected to a source of something greater than ourselves. Our energy is unified with the process and efforts we are making. There's nothing like it; we're totally emersed and engaged in what we're doing. It feels wonderful. It's empowering to be deeply connected with our own sense of identity and natural passion.
We need to be able to be ourselves, get free from old ways of thinking, and understand the pathway that puts us into the zone. So, if you didn't have to worry about making a living or about what others thought of you, what kinds of activities would you love to be doing? Next, let's discuss finding your community to discover your vocation.
Conclusion: Finding Your Community to Discover Yourself and Explore Your Vocation
In summary, we've introduced some of the key elements to help you to begin to discover and explore a vocational path. We discussed life stores and narratives; the influence of family and educational experiences; listed vocational factors to assess for yourself (aptitude and abilities, passions and interests, attitudes and belief, opportunities, transferable skills and strengths, work activities and preferences, personality types, multiple Intelligences, learning styles, and values); and how to think differently and use your imagination for creativity and being in the zone. Hopefully, this has given you some food for thought on your journey of exploring your passion, purpose, and vocational path.
It's important to remember to connect with other people who share your passions. Finding and being part of a community, can help you to collaborate, discover, and commit. Find people who are doing the types of activities and disciplines that you want to be involved in. You are more likely to learn, develop, feel supported and encouraged, and to gain confidence in your passion. It will validate your passion and give you a deeper sense of what matters and what's worth doing in your life. It also provides influence and inspiration, which can intensify your experience and generate momentum to propel you forward. The power of a group is the creative energy. This collective synergy can activate the right combination of thoughts, feelings, and actions for achieving your vocational goals.
Finally, it's worth mentioning some of the barriers that may need to be overcome on your journey. These can be your personal, social, and cultural circles of influence. Sometimes these are the people closest to us who have an image or expectation of who they think we are supposed to be. But, this is not about them; this is about you. It's a personal journey and for our own good to be able to feel accomplished doing something that matters most to us, instead of playing it safe and taking the path of least (or less) resistance. This is hard when we might want the approval of parents, family members, friends, and others. This is scary when we fear that we may not have enough income to afford our cost of living and to pay the bills.
Remember, you may need to make the difficult decision to break free from groupthink, swim upstream, and be true to yourself despite pressures from personal, cultural, and social influences. You can't let anything or anyone get in your way. This may sound extreme. But it may be necessary if you want to discover your passion and purpose, and find your true vocational path. So, please hold steady with your vision and mission, in spite of any resistance you may experience. You may have to walk away from the life you've known (or the one you thought was meant for you), in order to develop and grow into your true purpose and vocation. The price you pay for conformity is incalculable. The rewards you will reap for listening to and following your calling, are priceless!
For more information on resources and tools to assist you with choosing a vocational path or for discovering your passion and purpose, please reach out and contact us or book an appointment.