More Than Work: Anyone can search for calling in their work, career

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Tim McGuire is a past president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and former editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.|ret||ret||tab|

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The word "calling" raises all sorts of suspicions and fears. Most of us think only priests or rabbis or ministers are "called." Maybe a renowned scientist who discovers a cure for smallpox or diabetes is also "called," but taxi drivers, software engineers, salespeople and clerks are certainly not "called." Or so goes the common wisdom.|ret||ret||tab|

In April 2001, I stood before the American Society of Newspaper Editors as that society's president. I told those editors that being an editor of a newspaper is a calling.|ret||ret||tab|

That declaration before my peers completed my journey from a high school kid who needed a job at a local newspaper to pay for expenses to an editor of a major newspaper who viewed his work as a calling to serve the common good.|ret||ret||tab|

Three months after that declaration, I fulfilled a three-year plan and retired from my newspaper editor's job to write, speak and facilitate. I made that move convinced that my calling to the newspaper business had been rewarding and genuine. I was just as convinced that I was being called to use my skills in a new, meaningful endeavor. |ret||ret||tab|

In the book "Habits of the Heart," Robert Bellah said people envision work as a job, as a career or as a calling/vocation.|ret||ret||tab|

A job is about putting bread on the table, providing for our families and funding our hobbies. A career is about rank, prestige and advancement. According to Bellah, work is a calling when you can find a moral core to the work, when you can find value and meaning, and when you can serve the common good.|ret||ret||tab|

I found all of that in journalism and became convinced that if we think of calling as a noun, it allows all of us to search for a calling in what we do.|ret||ret||tab|

Everyone from a security guard to the maintenance man to the president of a university can analyze the work they do and define it as job, career or calling. If you can find elements of morality, meaning and importance performed in the best interests of the community, you can find calling in your work. But even a calling can be performed badly if we cast aside morality and the common good.|ret||ret||tab|

There are some who are convinced that calling occurs when we are called by an external force. That is "calling" as a verb. An author named Greg Lavoy has written a profound book,. "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life." Lavoy talks about a force that we can't see, but we can see what it does. |ret||ret||tab|

He contends that calls come through dreams, fantasies, cravings, ambitions, persistent symptoms, the fears and resistance that have been preoccupying you lately. |ret||ret||tab|

This concept of external call is a scary one. One smart executive in one of my seminars said, "I really like what I do. I believe I am doing good for society. But I have never heard anybody or anything calling me."|ret||ret||tab|

Most of us look for the burning bush or expect to be knocked off our horses. And if you're like me, you really wonder if a creator has the time to be calling you to anything in particular. |ret||ret||tab|

But those of us who don't think we've heard the "call" can still discover our calling.|ret||ret||tab|

If we take the time to think of calling as a noun we may be able to discover that the conduct of our work really is a part of our moral core; that it is important and meaningful on its own merits; and that our work helps us contribute to the common good. |ret||ret||tab|

That is a calling.|ret||ret||tab|

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Tip for your search|ret||ret||tab|

Analyze your work. If you are satisfied with a job or career, call it a day. There is nothing wrong with that. If you want to think about finding a deeper sense of calling, think about the meaning of your work. Are you morally doing that work to your satisfaction? Can you do your work in a way that positively affects the common good?|ret||ret||tab|

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