What do your strengths have to do with your calling?

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Paula Castillo, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Do callings exist? If so, how can you find them? This blog post is the fourth in a five-part series exploring callings. I’ll consider what they are, how to find and cultivate them, and more. Today I talk about what strengths have to do with callings.

When have you felt happiest at work? When did you feel like time just flew by? What activities were you performing? It is likely that during these times you were in what researchers call “flow” state, and one of the things that activates your flow state is using your strengths.

When you align your tasks with your strengths it increases the feeling that your work is a calling. And that’s not the only upside of working within your strengths; in fact, there is evidence that just knowing your strengths boosts your overall sense of happiness.

What do strengths have to do with callings?
Studies by researchers Claudia Harzer and Willibald Ruch have found that employees who used four or more of their strengths had more positive work experiences and they were also more likely to see their work as a calling. These findings indicate that if you adapt your work tasks to your strengths, you can make your job feel more like a calling.

Below I’m providing two practices that focus on strengths. The first is a practice that, according to research, increases an overall sense of satisfaction at work and outside of work if you practice it for at least four weeks. The second is a somatic exercise that I highly recommend.

How to identify your strengths and put them into practice at work

Step 1: Take a Strengths Test
You might innately know what your strengths are but in case you need a little guidance or want to go deeper, I suggest these two main assessments:

CliftonStrengths by Gallup: The Gallup results are more specific to work, tied to your talents, and costs approximately $50. I’m a certified Gallup Strengths Coach and I love diving into the results with my clients.

The VIA Character Strengths: While the VIA gives you more of what I call “soul” strengths (officially they are called character strengths). The results are intuitive, and the assessment is free. The VIA has the largest body of research and a wide library of free resources available.

Step 2: Identify Four Top Strengths
Take a look at your top 10 results and identify four strengths that feel natural and that elevate you. If you got the CliftonStrengths, I highly recomment the “CliftonStrengths 34 Report” which provides tailored insights into your strengths and how they interact with one another.

Step 3: List Five Work Tasks
List five of the most frequent tasks you do at work, such as analyzing data, calling and emailing clients, conducting research, etc.

Step 4: Match Your Strengths to Your Tasks
Brainstorm ways you could apply your top four strengths to each of the tasks that you listed.

Benefits of a Certified Gallup Strengths Career Coach
Working with a coach who understands how strengths relate to life and work, can help you understand yourself better. In my coaching practice I provide clients with knowledge of working with Gallup Strengths so that they can find their callings and life purpose.

I also offer visualizations and somatic practices that incorporate strengths to help make difficult decisions. If you’re interested in working with me, I offer a free Discovery Call.