Episode 003 - Your Calling is Calling

This is In Brief. Let's get to it. Hey guys, this is Jordana with the In Brief podcast, where each week we take a few minutes to dive into a topic that hopefully makes your transition a little bit easier, but also gives you a new perspective or a new outlook to take into a new week. Like I said, I'm Jordana. I'm the CEO of the Recon Network. This week we're going to be talking about your calling. So today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and naturally we're going to see some things happen as they always do. And part of that is we're going to see a number of different quotes that he said throughout his really influential career, as short-lived as it was. And we're going to see those quotes pop into our social feeds, and they're going to kind of span a large swath of life experience and life advice. And so we're going to have a lot of sentiments honoring Martin Luther King. And here we're going to do the same thing, but I want to look at something very specific that he said through a different lens. And in this quote that I'm going to tell you about, and in this quote, he's talking about following your calling, your personal calling. So he says, if a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. Now, if you're familiar with the Recon Network, you know that our mission is different from a lot of other veteran service organizations in that we focus primarily on purpose in meeting, like a lot, a lot, a lot. And the reason that we do this is because we found for many in service, when you leave that life of military service, you get really lost. And, uh, the people that we work with have had their mission and their vision and their calendar and their job title handed to them for so long that when they get out of that structure and they don't have that anymore, they realize that sure, the world is their oyster. Mm-hmm. But they don't have a clue how to shuck it, right? Okay. So that's a little bit of Lowcountry coastal humor from, from a Charlestonian girl, but you'll hear this thing, the world is your oyster, but if you don't know how to open the oyster, what does that mean for you? Right? So when we focus on purpose, on helping each individual find their calling, we can see a shift in that person because the rest of this stuff. Motivation, confidence, job fit, retention, even their relationships and ability to meet goals that they set for themselves. All of those things improve when you focus on purpose. There is a foundational element that each of us as humans have that helps us move through this life in a different way, and that thing is your calling. So King was called to be a preacher and literally helped change the course of American history. But do you think he knew that from the beginning of his life? No, he was in the right place at the right time. And yes, he may have been called to be a preacher, but I doubt he knew the extent of what his service was going to look like for someone 10 years beyond him. Right. But at the same time, he still knew that someone's calling could be something far, far different, like a street sweeper. The point he wanted to make is that regardless of what you're called to do, or I'd even go so far as to say what you find yourself doing, even if you don't feel called to it, but whatever you do, you should approach it as it is the most important job in the world. Because the reality is, for someone it is. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you're truly called to do something, for you, It really is the most important thing in the world. Here's the thing. You are put on this earth as a unique solution to someone's problem. I really believe that. I really, really do. No human is exactly the same, not in every way. And I'm not talking about genes here or fingerprints or any of that kind of stuff. I'm talking about your inherent talents, your beliefs, your background and how you were raised. Your skills that you built along the way—all of those things make you unique. And the trick of life is finding out how that uniqueness fits the larger puzzle of life on Earth during the time frame that you're on it. There's something out there that you not only do well, but can do better than anyone else in this world, even if it's only for a moment in time. in the right place with the right circumstances and the right people, but no one else can do it. You have to. The trick is determining what that calling is and realizing that you may not know it until it's upon you. However, there is a path forward. Determining your own individual purpose and finding meaning in day-to-day life is a great first step because it puts you in the right environment to find and identify that calling And then live up to it. Your calling is calling. It's time to answer.