Being Called (To Your Purpose)

As a child we think magically and follow our hearts to whatever feels right and “being called” to something comes and goes at will. However, as we grow we see that so many of us allow life to simply just happen “to” us.

We work hard to avoid feeling scared and losing what we already have; We avoid the unknown despite how exciting it might feel and despite what we truly feel called to do. Because of this, we may never have the opportunity to experience the exhilarating feeling of actually “feeling called” to something because we are too busy avoiding potential failure so we never find what “feels right”.

I remember thinking and feeling this way. I worked hard in college and started a “real” job. Every day I was stressed and every day I felt exhausted and uninspired. Until one day, struggling through a bout of depressed desperation, I had a break-through. It was more simple than I ever imagined as a 23 year old young “professional,” who really just felt like a lost child with no happy place to visit.

Being Called - Getting published in national magazines is one of the highlights of developing your skill to a credible level.

Getting published in national magazines is one of the highlights of developing your skill to a credible level. Shown here holding a recent published article “Being Called” in Fostering Families Today.

My breakthrough to feeling like I was Being Called was this:

Be open to every potential opportunity
Listen to others when they say you’re good at something, then start doing it a lot more
Learn as much as you can every day about anything that even remotely peaks your interest
And GIVE GIVE GIVE of yourself to anything you believe in
Try your hand at anything and everything you can because if it doesn’t feel right you can ALWAYS just walk away, but if it feels right it might be your next big thing that inspires you to takes a leap of faith into a much happier existence

I had gotten so fed up with just “existing” that I was ready to do any and all of these steps identified in my breakthrough to feel like I was being called. And that’s what I did.

Here’s a breakdown of how these steps worked in my life to create opportunities, friendships, and income that I never imagined possible:

When I got a call from someone who was asking me to donate my time, I did it.
While I was spending time donating my time someone told me that I would be good at leading a specific group, so I did it (despite never doing it before and feeling completely unqualified).
Since I was treading in new waters I spent hours of my free time researching about the things I was helping with. That led me down new paths where I learned about other opportunities that required similar skills that I was developing, such as public speaking and program development (none of which I studied in college, by the way).
Once I got better at speaking, developing programs, and facilitating small groups, I started donating those skills to any group who needed them as long as they were a group that I believed in and wanted to support.
When things got tough, I walked away and tried new things with the skills I learned. I got a part-time job on the side that required some of my newly developed skills and that made me better at what I was doing. It also helped me qualify for a new job which gave me the skills necessary to go back to my original passions and give on a higher level with a higher skill set.

After about 2 years of this I had a moment of awakening that showed me it was possible to become a professional speaker, coach, and consultant by utilizing all of the skills I had developed using the things I was good at AND passionate about (which had nothing to do with my college degree).

After about 7 years of this I actually had the experience required to follow my dreams to what I felt I was being called to in a competent manner.

And now, 10 years later, as a result of being forced to learn, grow, and constantly abiding by the rules of the above stated breakthrough I get to do what I love full time. I have also developed an array of skills that could support me if anything ever went wrong in my life or career. Here’s a few:

Video Production
Photography
Authoring/Publishing
Small Business Development (LLC)
Personal Branding
Marketing for personal brands and non-profits
Life Coaching
Cold-Calling
Content Creation (blogs, articles, quotes, images, web site content etc)

This is all outside of my previous career that I went to college for.

Here’s the moral of the story told in a few of my favorite quotes that you can Tweet:

“If someone else of a similar intellectual ability can do it, so can you”

“Nothing is forever.”

“You and only you can dictate your future.”

“Feeling stuck is just a feeling – it can change.”

Learn more about Travis Lloyd & how he compares to other professional speakers by watching some videos.

Travis Lloyd is an inspiring motivational speaker with a powerful story of Overcoming Adversities to achieve happiness and Success – Against All Odds. As a motivational speaker, Lloyd’s audiences include high school, college, leadership events, and conferences for educators, child welfare and mental health professionals. He speaks and performs internationally, and previously served as a Mental Health Crisis Worker. He advocates for social change that impacts at-risk populations and authored the book Overcoming Emotional Trauma: Life Beyond Survival Mode. He is a board member of Foster Care Alumni of America, VP of the Our Fields Of Hope Foundation and co-author of the book Fostering Hope For America. Find out more at www.TravisLloyd.net.

Motivational speaker Travis Lloyd believes that “If someone else can do it, so can you!”

Travis Lloyd - Motivator . Influencer . Teacher

Blog