What happens when you follow your calling
Last Sunday I had a long and refreshing talk with a friend of mine, Jose. When I finished the call I had an epiphany.
Jose and I met years ago in Bonn. By then she already impressed me by the way she would talk about her area, Finance. I remember her words: “Dear, just show them crystal clear the real value of your work, the costs and the earnings, and do it”.
I took Jose’s advice quite literally by then. Up to last Sunday. I finally understood what she meant by “costs and earnings”. It was not only about numbers for a company. Her message was: what effort will cost you to get what you want, and mainly, show them what you will achieve.
For a moment I realised that the “how” is not as important as I thought. People want to see “what’s” and “results”, rather than “let me tell you how I made this piece of bread”. People are consumers of information.
Even though, if asked, people like me and you could talk hours about ourselves, we want to hear what’s in there for us. I bring you bread. What can you offer me that is as valuable as what I have? Convince me on why I should give you my bread.
Years passed since Jose gave me that first advice. To be more precise, 6 years or so. We were both interns discovering Germany. She from Kenya and I from Brazil. In the meantime Jose got a MBA and is a successful professional in Finance. What about me?
That’s the part which is not interesting for you. That’s not why you are reading this article.
You are reading these lines because, just like me, you can’t top thinking about your calling. You want to hear my resuls to understand whether you are on the right path. If that’s your goal, welcome to my world and allow me to guide you through it.
For years I was sure I would become a writer. My parents and friends knew about that as well. Sad thing is that I was only that sure about my call when I was around 14 years old. After writing a 150 pages book and not publishing it, I considered myself a failure. With 15.
That is my 1st calling.
It is incredible how one’s own pressure can destroy a self-image. The bar was so high that I didn’t even give myself the right to try. I gave up on my call. I told myself not to ever again write some silly articles. Don’t even think about a book. I am not made for this.
Fact is, the call is so strong that I could not avoid it. Every time there would be a drama in my life, I would spend nights writing about it. About a character who went throgh the same experience. Not a single word would be published. You can’t imagine how much I regret about it now.
2nd calling is:
I love technology. Just to give you a hint of which person I am: the one who would always breaks the family computer. Nobody told me that girls could enjoy computers. That they could have a good time breaking them in order to fix them later. They rather told me: “Oh, you are so communicative, your writing is great, go and study something with Communications”.
Not to blame other people for my choices. But I do believe an extra encouragement would not have hurt. My math grades were pretty good. My understanding of a language structure as well. My logic was just fine. Who knows? Perhaps I wouldn’t have become the best software engineer of all times. But I would have had an incentive to continue breaking things to make them better.
One way or another, the call was so strong that I entered the technology world. For me it was not enough to be the product manager. I wanted to know what those lines of code were doing to bring value for my customers. Again, Jose’s words were echoing in my mind. What you can offer and what are the outcomes. Crystal clear results.
3rd calling is:
Deep in my heart I always believed that one day, once I have enough money on the side, I will finally be able to give my time to others in need. I even planned this on paper when I was 20. That old and yellowish paper still lies in my wallet. It was something to do between 50-60 y.o.
Once I completed 32, I felt I could not postpone that anymore. It was a work there waiting for me. It had to be done. As Elizabeth Gilbert says in her podcast: “That piece of work needs to be done by you as much as you need to do it. You both need each other”.
That is how I define “calling”. The thing you need to do because it is bigger than you. That is what Jose and I talked about in our conversation 6 years after she told me it was all about “what and results”.
“What” is the gift you let the world know you have. The “results” are what happens once you use this gift to make this same world a better place to live. For yourself and consequently for others around you.
After a long time ignoring my three callings I decided to stop being inconsiderate to myself. I left my previous job. Got back to writing. Became an online volunteer. Got a project to develop a software together with a team. And I could not be happier than what I am now.
These are my callings. How about yours?
Great article Kati. Thanks for sharing your experience. We met at MWC in Barcelona and I was very impressed by your professionalism. You have a wonderful presence and I really appreciate you as a person. Happy holidays season and warm regards, Phil