Your vision is your calling

The factor of self motivation that I get the most questions on is the vision. People understand successability, once it’s defined as “your confidence in your competence.” And people understand environment, and how there are two types of environment, the physical and the social. But when it comes to vision, people often get stuck. This doesn’t surprise me, as it was the most difficult factor for me to wrap my hands around as I was writing Motivate You: a Step by Step Guide to Becoming All You Can Be. Because vision is the most important factor, it’s important we understand it well.

I like to use the word vocation when I discuss the vision. Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare, which means to call. The implication when you apply this word to your vision is that there is a greater voice that calls you to pursue a certain goal, something outside of yourself, and/or deep within yourself. It was probably originally used exclusively in a religious setting, that is, one was called to be a priest or a nun, then it started being used in service type professions (where you “serve” others), for example, doctors and nurses, and even teachers. It can be what makes a profession more than just a job.

Victor Frankl, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, wrote, “What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

This Frankl quote calls to mind two points of the vision I want to highlight in the quote. The first is that the vision is a goal worthy of the holder, because in order for the vision to motivate you, it must be of value (worthy) to you. The second is Frankl’s use of the phrase, “the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled…” We see the word call, the vocation, and we also see the word potential, all we are capable of being.

But don’t think your vision needs to fit within the strict meaning of vocation, generally meaning more of a career or life work. There are many calls we can receive in our life.

Your vision can be related to any of the many different aspects of who you are. It can relate to a desire to be in a loving relationship. It can relate to you being healthy, perhaps involving weight loss or an increased fitness level. It can be a calling to a hobby, like photography or gardening, perhaps becoming a Master Gardener like my Dad was.

The major requirement for a vision is that it be compelling; it must be worthwhile to you.

When you think about your vision, does it feel like it involves a vocation, that is, a calling? If you would like, please leave a comment, sharing your response to this question.