What's going on, pursuers? Welcome to the Pursuit of Calling podcast, where my goal
and purpose is to provide you with the strategies and tools needed to successfully discover
and pursue your God-given calling. I'm your host, Thomas Carney, and today we're talking
about how to pursue your calling well. All right, what's going on, pursuers? So two
weeks ago, we talked about what calling or purpose is. We defined it. Then we dived...
Last week, we dove into... We talked about how to discover your calling using the Discover
Your Calling Planning Guide, which you can get at pursuitofcalling.com or pursuitofcalling.com.
And if you haven't listened to those episodes yet, make sure to do so. Make sure you do
so before you listen to this one. Go back and listen to those two episodes to get the
full benefit from this short little series that I'm doing. And don't forget to get your
copy of the planning guide. So now that you've discovered your calling, or at least have
a better idea as to what it might be, how do you actually pursue it? You know, as a
personal example, before I recorded this episode, before I knew I was going to be recording
this episode, I was having a conversation with a friend and not really talking about
the podcast too much, but we are talking about our different goals, the businesses that we
have or are starting. And he made a comment that I don't think he realized that he made.
But my friend Matt, hey Matt, if you listen to the podcast, he said that like, I've been
talking about getting this entering into the John Maxwell certification program, entering
into the Maxwell team for a really long time, for probably over a year. And he made a comment
he was like, and you're going to get your coaching and then maybe one day you're going
to maybe you'll do the Maxwell stuff if you're actually going to do that. And he didn't say
in a condescending way, but he said in a way that kind of convicted me a little bit. And
so I, you know, I wanted to make sure I, and that made me realize I wasn't doing everything
I could be to pursue my calling well and with excellence. This is something I said I was
going to do for a really long time. And for a long time, it was just lip service. It was
just lip service to my calling because I said I was going to be willing one day to invest
my time and resources and money into this thing that I believe is great. But that day
wasn't coming. When was I decide when was I going to decide that I was actually ready?
So you know, I finally decided to pay the tuition fee for that. And for the whole certification
program, I joined the team, which is only going to exponentially propel me forward and
it's going to help me provide better services and cause me to be able to serve you and to
serve my future clients at a capacity that I would never have been able to do before.
Because now I'm part of a network. There's courses I can take to gain some new skills.
There's even content that I can teach from and I can guide clients through to help them
grow and to help them reach their calling and pursue their calling, live their calling
well with excellence. That's the whole point of this podcast. So the reason I bring this
up at all is because I truly believe the only way that you can actually pursue the calling
that God has on your life is to be willing to take action by putting your time, money
and other resources to work. Yesterday I was on a call that a part of which was a part
of this backfill leadership program. They have these calls that and you don't have
to hop on them. They could go on it, but because I want to get my money's worth and I want
to, which I already have, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything that I can to make
this investment in my future that I made worth it for myself because now it's up to me, right?
I put in the money and now it's up to me to reap the benefits that are, that are right
there in front of me for me to receive. And you know, I was on this call and it was the
topic of the top, the topic of the call was talking about overcoming the overwhelm. Really
it was talking about how to take action whenever the, whenever there's so many reasons that
you feel like there are not to like a personal example for me is I have so many ideas. I'm
an ideal person. I don't know if you ever heard of the six working geniuses. I recommend
you look it up. Yes. Google six working geniuses at the $25 course and believe not my code,
but you can use the code secrets. I believe to get $5 off. Thanks to Russell Brunson.
Don't thank me. And so then it's only $20 and it's a hundred percent worth it. But the,
the reason I bring that up, the reason I bring up the six working geniuses is because through
that whole process, uh, it came out and told, gave me like a classification of the creative
dreamer. Essentially my head's in the clouds and I come up with a ton of ideas. That's
like the very rudimentary, not complete story of what that is, but it's true. I come up
with so many ideas and that causes me to almost get that shiny object syndrome. Cause I love
all of these ideas and then I just don't move because there's two, I can, I try either I'd
move, either I don't move because there's too many things to choose from, or I try to
do all these things at once. Cause this is a shiny object. This is a shiny object over
here. So I try to take little bite-sized pieces out of each idea. And then you get absolutely
nowhere when you do that. So this, which, you know, inevitably to tie it back to the
call I was on, like it causes me to get really overwhelmed. Cause there's so many things
I could be doing and partially sometimes feel like I should be doing, but if I really want
to make progress, if you really want to make progress, you have to focus really on one
goal and one trajectory. And one great thing that they said during that call, that the
speaker said during the call was you take action by trying something new that you have
never tried before. You take action by trying something you never tried before. You just
start. And like, you don't have to know everything before you get started. They said, you're
going to mess up. And that's one huge way we learn. I think I brought that up sometime
before on this podcast that it's in failure. A lot of the time is whenever we learn the
biggest lessons, because you can look back on your failure and realize why did I fail?
What caused me to stumble? And how can I, what do I need to do to not do that the next
time? Or what caused me to mess up and how, or what caused this not to be as good as a
result of this not to be as good as I thought it was going to be? And how can I make sure
that it's a better result next time? And you can tie that into success too. Like why did
I succeed? But this was just within the topic of what they talked about. So your dreams
and like one thing I thought about during all of that, and I think of another speaker
on another different call said this, they go, your dreams, goals and visions do not
do you any good if they stay in your head. Like this is just, I'm just speaking to you
right now directly. It's time to, it's time to turn your internal goals in these intuitions,
these dreams, these visions into an external result. It's time to take the internal and
make it external. You know, out of these, out of these mere concepts that are just in
your head and turn them into reality. It's time to make it tangible. So the pursuit of
calling is all about taking action. You like, you take, you start, you take the first action
and then you, even if you fail, you take the next action, you figure out what you need
to do next and you just keep, keep, and you just keep going. And there's what, and that
might sound overwhelming to you. Like, yes, rest is a giant virtue, is a huge virtue and
you should rest, but you can't just rest. You have to take action. If you want to pursue
your calling, if you want to live in it, well, you want to live a life that God has destined
for you to live. You got to take action to pursue your calling. You have to take action
and pursue, actually pursue your calling. Pursue is not a passive term. Passive is active.
Call is active. So think, I want you to, okay, this is a time for you. If you don't already
have a pencil, a pen and a piece of paper or maybe a note, sap or whatever, get that
up right now. And I want you to write down, I want you to start thinking about ways that
you can be applying your calling as a way of service to others. Why do I say that? Because
your calling isn't just for you. Your calling isn't just for you. Write down like minimum
three different things that you can be doing to make your, turn your calling into an active
service. Who can you serve with this? Who can, who would benefit the most? I'm not talking
specifically about businesses. Everyone is called to serve. That's the only reason we're
on this planet. Like we're on this planet to serve. We're here to serve God and to serve
others. And you want to know how we serve God? We serve God by serving others. Like that
is like a concept I think so many people, and this is like, it like actually irritates
me a little bit, not in my notes, but it irritates me that people don't get that. People think
when they start a business that it's just about making money. And there's, they couldn't
be more, it couldn't be more wrong. Anybody that says business, starting a business, an
internship is anything but service to others is completely, it's just, it's just wrong.
They are incorrect, full stop, period. No doubt. Only reason to start a business is
to serve others. It's not about the money. The money is reward. The money is a reward
for the service you provide. It's not, it's not the, it's not the end. It's not the end
to the mean. Man, sorry, that was a whole tangent, but, and even though you're, let's
get back to like, not just business though, you with your, you, how can you serve others
in your community that would apply to the calling that you have on your lines, the calling
that you have in your life? How can you serve people in your workplace? How can you make
your job more enjoyable by applying your calling to it? We've talked about your calling
doesn't just go, isn't, isn't a vocation. It's not, your calling isn't a job. It's
not a career. It's not a business. It's a way of life. So how can you apply this way
of life, this new way of living that you've discovered to your job, to your career, to
your business, to your church community, to the community that you live in? How can you
apply, how can you serve others through this calling that you have now discovered that
you have on your life? And this is like, this is awesome stuff guys. Like I really hope
you're listening to it. I really hope you're like picking up on laying down right now.
I want you again, if you get, again, go back, rewind, we'll just say that again. If you
haven't written your things down yet, but now I want you to write down three things
you, that you can do in the next month and in the next 30 days to pursue your calling
well. Now this could be doing research. If we're going with this get super, uber practical.
This could be doing research. It can be reading new books, listening to some new podcasts,
you know, purchasing a program, you know, that you've had your eyes on for a long time
and start, and you can start that process. You know, that kind of, you know, that works
out pretty well. It like, it actually is pretty exciting. I know. And, um, but like I bring
all these things up because like I, I've told you before, I love reading and I know
Craig or shell set has a, has a phrase as a saying that's the best leaders are the best
readers. If you're not reading, you're not like, you're not learning as much as you could
be learning. And there's so many books for every topic out there written by people that
you're not going to get the same same value out of a podcast, even though podcasts are
fantastic and you can listen to those whenever you want. And like a book, like though it
takes that same information that a lot of people are talking about in their podcasts
and can, and expands on it in a way that you can underline and take notes on it. You can
take notes on a podcast too, but like, like this gives you a whole different medium and
a whole different way to learn that not enough people take advantage of. It's time to start
reading if you're not already. I don't know if I don't know if I have the video up. I
don't know if it's on YouTube or not, but I'm telling you, I have this massive bookshelf
behind bookshelf behind me. Some of it's books for pleasure. A lot of it's books for pleasure.
Like store fantasy books and things like that. Other than the other 50% of the books are
about personal development, about growth, about business, about philosophy, about philosophy.
And all these other things that interest me that you wouldn't think had anything to do
with anything that I'm doing, but they all do. And I could explain each and every book
to you and how that I've read. I haven't read all of them and tell you how they, how they
apply to my calling because how, because these things that interest you, your calling is
unique to you. I'm going off a random tangent. I'm off my notes. My notes are done. Now I'm
just speaking from my heart. Like your calling is unique to you. All these books that I'm
reading, I'm into philosophy, the philosophy books, the philosophy books, the personal
development books, the books about habits and about how to manage my time better. Like
all of these books. And then there's books about like the hobbit. I have the hobbit out
there too. And guys, it's weird, but like I use that just for pleasure. I use that to
read and to rest. And I'm sure there's some lessons in there too. I'm sure there's some
lessons in there too. I haven't dove too far into it in that way yet, but you know, one
day maybe. Guys, everything you do from this point on that you've discovered your calling
and are on the pursuit should be to pursue your calling. You might think, be like, eh,
not all the time. I don't have to be, you know, always pursuing. No, no, wrong. You
always should be pursuing your calling. That's the best thing on your life. The only thing
that's like worth doing is the pursuit of calling. Now there's obviously there's an
infinite amount of things that you can be doing, which is the exciting part. And there's
infinite amount of growth that can happen in your life. But like, like, and you can
say rest is good. Rest is part of the pursuit. Rest is part of the pursuit, hanging out with
friends and making sure you're not going to drive yourself insane by just, sorry, just
about the microphone by just being on this pursuit. But guys, like it's the most important
thing in your life. God gave you this calling. Okay. God's the most important thing in your
life because God gave you this calling most important thing that is yours. Right. It's
this calling. Ooh. So people might disagree with me on that. And, and, uh, but guys, I'm
gonna leave it there. Cause I just kept rambling, but I thought it was all, I thought it was
all good because of course I didn't, I said it, but if you agreed or you disagree with
me, let me know in the comments on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever, wherever you
listen to your podcast, wherever you listen to your podcasts, give this podcast, the whole
podcast, the whole five star review, because we don't want your one stars because you have
nothing to say. Don't say anything at all. You know, like it's like, it's not helpful
for you. Not helpful for me. And, but yeah, give it a five star review, comment, share
this episode out with anybody, anybody like you don't have to share on social media. You
can just send the link to a friend that you think this would be beneficial towards. I
feel like this episode would be beneficial to a lot of people. So please share it with
a friend, share it with a family member, share it with your cousins or aunts or dog. If they
can read, who knows? And, and guys, I'll see you next time. Keep pursuing.