Your Call to Adventure

In movies, the main character usually experiences some sort of Call to Adventure. Here's a common moviemaking pattern you might often encounter before you finish your popcorn:

• You learn something about the main character's Normal or Ordinary world. This phase of the movie gives you an idea of what things are like before the main character experiences his or her Call to Adventure. It is not unusual for the ordinary world to be...well...ordinary. Perhaps this world is even boring, unchallenging, unrewarding and unfulfilling. However uninspiring this world may be, it is the world the main character knows best...their comfort-zone world.
• The main character is somehow presented with a problem to solve, a challenge to overcome or opportunity to pursue. In other words, the main character is "called to a new adventure" in life.
• Sometimes the main character temporarily refuses to answer the new call to adventure. After all, most people are quite hesitant to disrupt their comfort-zone world...even if it is boring, unchallenging, unrewarding and unfulfilling. I'll address the implications of the Refusal of the Call in the next blog.
• Eventually, the main character accepts the Call to Adventure and the movie (and adventure) is kicked off.

What has all this got to do with you as we wrap up 2007 and get ready for the adventure we will call 2008? As they say..."Art imitates life!" 

How many people do you know who are pursuing their true calling in life? Just for fun, make a list of the ten people you know best and try to guess how many of them are using most of their time and energy to pursue their true calling in life. And by the way...go ahead and put one more person on the list...yourself. How are you doing with this Call to Adventure stuff? Here's a simple test to see if you are headed in the right direction: For the most part...does your life's work energize you or drain you? Here are some points to ponder if you decide to think about your Call to Adventure:

• It appears that everybody has a specific Call to Adventure (something specific that you are supposed to accomplish with your time, talent and energy during your time on Earth). If you haven't discovered your true calling yet...keep trying!
• The adventure doesn't always get kicked off in dramatic fashion (like in the movies). Your Herald (the person, event or force that announces your adventure) might be a passage in a book, a comment by a friend, an attraction to something, a feeling of ongoing restlessness, any person, event or force that generates an adventure-kicking-off epiphany, etc.
• Some Calls to Adventure have an expiration date. Activities that formerly energized you are now routine and boring. Often an early life Call to Adventure is simply a stepping stone to a higher calling later on in life.
• Some people, perhaps most, cannot detect their Call to Adventure because they are simply too busy or too caught up in monkey traps such as maintaining a certain lifestyle, waiting out certain benefit vesting periods, parental or spousal expectations, not letting go of an earlier life choice that no longer makes sense, etc.
• Some people think they have to totally abandon their current life path to pursue a new adventure. This is true in some cases (if you are way off your true path in life)...but not true in most cases. Odds are you have already made many career decisions based on some level of interest in the activities you are currently pursuing and only need to make some adjustment to your life path. For example, most of my past career moves (some of which looked like mistakes in the past) seemed to prepare me in some way for my current life adventure.
• It is never too late to discover your true path in life. If you are still alive, your work on Earth is not finished.

When I was young, I only heard about preachers being "called" to their vocation...the ministry. I now believe that all our lives are a form of ministry and we are all "called" to a specific adventure that awaits us. Think about it! Happy New Year! Have a great 2008!   

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Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive.