7 Ways to Discover Your Calling By Tara Sophia Mohr

So many of us are searching for our callings. We're looking for that fulfilling, just-right-for-us pursuit that will bring a sense of focus and meaning into our lives. But how do we discover our callings? The first important step is to let go of the idea that we each receive only one calling, instead consider that we receive many callings over our lives and that they begin and end. The question, therefore, isn't "what is my calling?" but rather "'what' is calling me right now?" Here are seven easy-to-recognize clues that will tell you what's calling you right now.

Tara Sophia Mohr is a personal growth teacher and women's leadership expert. Her work focuses on helping individuals create more authentic, fulfilled lives, as well as helping women play bigger in their work and in their lives. She is the founder of the global Playing Big leadership program for women and the author of the free 10 Rules for Brilliant Women Workbook. Visit www.taramohr.com to learn more.

Frustration With How Things Are

The first sign that you may be experiencing a calling is that you feel extremely frustrated or pained by some aspect of the status quo. Of all the needs and injustices in the world, there's a particular one that keeps nagging at you and won't leave you alone. Maybe it's climate change or the needs of foster care children or women going through breast cancer. Or maybe you are pained by a need that you might judge as less important or dramatic: maybe you notice how many people could really use some style advice to beautify their homes or maybe you're pained by the inefficiencies at your office. All of these are valid, important callings that enrich and improve the world.

"I'm Not Who I Need To Be"

Most profoundly, at the outset of embarking on a calling we feel sure we couldn't really be the ones given this task. We feel certain it's meant for someone braver, better qualified; maybe someone more charismatic or someone more patient. This isn't just your inner critic talking. It's the truth: at the beginning we aren't yet the people we need to be to complete our callings, but the magic of a calling is that it will grow us into that person. Callings have a dual purpose: to serve the world and to grow us into wiser, more mature, more capable versions of ourselves.

Reading these 7 Signs of a Calling, what do you now see about what callings are speaking to you right now?