Fred’s ‘Finding Your Calling’ Exercise and Invitations
Recently, Fred Gratzon over at The Lazy Way to Success posted a very interesting article outlining a method for “finding your calling.” Seeing as how this seems to be the meme of the year and I mentioned it in my last post, I figured it would be a good idea to actually exercise this method.
My ‘intersections of passion’ (on pass #1) are listed below. Some may have a commercial component, some I can’t even imagine being existing jobs. Does that discount anything? Probably not. I’m inviting feedback on these intersections (invite #1).
- Music Technology Instruction - Teaching people (kids?) the correlation, history, and future possibilities of music with computers, computer based instruments, etc..
- Musical Resource Development - I write a lot of liturgical music, most of which could be used even worldwide and receive modest payment for it.
- Musical Performance - I could always gig but this is an obvious one I’ve intentionally stayed away from as a career choice since I left for college - why?
- Technology Instruction - I’ve actually done this before with much success, but never in my current market so it might be worth testing the waters of SC.
- Leadership Instruction - I’m an effective leader of young people but this market might be slim.
- Productivity Instruction - I think I’d get a big kick out of doing GTD-style training to executives and watching the results as they become more productive, but this is an odd market to break into, and the local market is probably intensely slim.
- Buzz Consulting - How is this even on the list, huh? I don’t even know where this could go but with my ability to get a good overview-like knowledge of emerging technology very quickly, I’m a good box drawer. I’m good at coming up with systems (at a high level) that will work once the boxes are connected by the right programmers and designers.
Ok, that’s pass #1.
I’d like to nearly shift the focus of space-age wasteland to this sort of passion/goal-seeking mentality. It’s not a big stretch considering what I’ve written about in the past. I’m going to post updates on these sorts of exercises and goals in my life. Invitation #2 is for you to come along. In the comments of this post, it’d be rad (yeah, I said ‘rad’) to see feedback of my ‘intersections of passions,’ the results of your calling exercises and some discussion of the results of each.
My next post could be an announcement of steps I’ve taken to advance one of these ideas, maybe it’ll be motivation for you to follow. It could also be another pass at this exercise because I found that the results were lousy. I hope to hear from you. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
September 23rd, 2005 at 11:23 am
When you list your passions, don’t try to cram them into a job title. It is too early for that. Get a comprehensive list first. If sniffing flowers is a passion, write it down. If you love playing golf, even if you are lousy, put it on the list. Drill deep and be specific. The power in this exercise lies in the details. THe subtler the better. If you are particularly passionate about smelling gardenias, include that on your list.
However, the most important question to be answered when zeroing in on your calling is “what do I give, which when giving it, fills me with bliss.” Do you feel great joy when giving money to charity, or time, or giving your music, or giving knowledge or inspiration to people, or whatever? Giving is the key.
September 23rd, 2005 at 11:29 am
Here’s my complete first pass:
Talents:
- Creative
- Intelligent
- Technically skilled
- Unique sense of humor
- Musically inclined (sort of)
- Skilled at various forms of media
- Resourceful
- Good at programming :-/
Passions:
- Entertaining and/or making people laugh and/or feel good
- Making music (but not as much as Bryan) (to make cool-sounding things, to entertain others, and to express myself)
- Maintaining ZackScott.net (to express myself personally, to entertain, and to log my personal life)
- Creating various forms of media (music, video, fiction, artcles (all humor-related/entertainment-related mostly))
- Logging various aspects of my personal life
- Playing video games (it’s fun)
- Technology (it’s fun)
- News/Politics commentary (to express myself personally and to entertain)
And now for the final list…
Activities that involve several talents:
- ZackScott.net (incorporates most of these, but I feel that it incorporates too much. It seems to only appeal to those who know me, and I don’t forsee it having any commercial potential)
- Another website? (It’s possible if I can find a good niche. I guess I could have an ad or donation based site focused on a few of my passions/talents, but that doesn’t sound too feasible)
- Zip Masta Zack (incorporates humor, music, entertainment, and can off-shoot to other forms of media. I wouldn’t want to do the whole touring thing that musicians do though, because that’s not really what I would enjoy. I love it when Bryan makes Zip Masta Zack music for me because to me, that’s the hardest part, and his music always sounds way cooler than most hip-hop/rap music. But even if it didn’t turn into a huge money-making thing, making another album would be one of the best things I’ve done in a long time.)
- Other music (like Bryan, I could possibly make music that could be marketted all around. I really enjoyed working with Bryan when he was doing Rain Pilot)
- Books/Comics (I feel that I am good at writing, but if I were to do something like a fictional book then I would want a co-author, and if I were to do a comic, then I would want someone else to be the artist. This could also be web-based and it may have potential for a small amount of money. Even if it didn’t, it’d be huge fun)
So, that’s it. Bryan, feel free to reformat this comment to make it look nicer. Anyway, what does everyone think?
September 23rd, 2005 at 12:13 pm
In light of what Fred commented, I didn’t skip those beginning steps, but maybe I rushed through them. I wrote down (on paper) the talents , then moved on to the passions, then posted the intersections. The reason I’ll be taking the second pass is to do it better the 2nd time, maybe dig a little deeper.
I also like what Zack has shared. It’s a little more revealing than mine. I guess that means I’ll just have to do better.
September 26th, 2005 at 12:34 pm
I will take the liberty to comment on Bryan’s post since I have not performed this exercise, yet.
I am obviously aware of the dramatic changes in your life in the last 11 months that have kept you away from performing your music. However, I know that you have a very strong desire to perform and, possibly more so, to create music. If I had to pick one of the things that you have listed here for you to do, it would definitely be Musical Performance. This is almost certainly your most prevalent gift.
However, realizing the time limitations that you have, I might suggest something different. I remember when you were teaching that computer class that you really seemed to enjoy it. If I remember correctly, there were aspects of that particular job that did not excite you, but it seemed that you liked it. I think that you would be a wonderful teacher, whether it be technology or music. I believe that you could excel and truly enjoy either. Obviously, the money would not be great, but that’s not what we are looking for here, is it? Besides, there may be other opportunities that could provide income.
Hope this was helpful.
September 26th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
[…] space-age wasteland technology where little exists… hacking the simple life « Fred’s ‘Finding Your Calling’ Exercise and Invitations […]
October 24th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
[…] List the alternatives. I kinda did that here. I know there are still more alternatives. I found out about Pump Audio yesterday. They provide bumper and background music for television programmers and advertisers. The catch is that they draw upon independent artists and have a revolutionary system for their clients to find the music they’re looking for. I think with enough practice, this could be a viable mechanism for success - I just need practice. […]
February 3rd, 2006 at 5:50 pm
[…] On Tuesday, I promised you news soon. When I first did my ‘passion intersections‘ months ago, I listed technology instructor as one. About 3 weeks ago, my sister made me aware of a teaching opportunity with the company she works for. […]