14: Aligning Your Career with Your Calling | Jennifer Vancil
Release Date: 09/28/2021
Christian Life Calling
Have you ever met someone who knows how to smile in the midst of a storm? Life’s trials and traumas cannot destroy a person who remains present. Being present requires awareness, trust, and faith. You gain freedom from lingering fear, comparison, and suffering the moment you ground yourself in the present. Terri Johnson is an inspiring example of being present. She conquered challenging situations throughout her life, which brought her closer to Christ. Now, at this time in her life, Terri faces an entirely new challenge as she deals with a cancer diagnosis. Most people become discouraged...
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A lot of people blindly seek external validation and external purpose first, but this rootless pursuit ends up short-lived. In fact, any pursuit of Calling is shallow if you don’t go internally first to figure out your gifts and who you are in Christ. Being curious about how a thing is made shows the intention of its purpose. Likewise, knowing yourself helps you direct your life with stronger discernment. Teresa McCloy is a Coach, Speaker, Podcaster, Trainer and Creator of the REALIFE Process® helping people to get a handle on life. She is also the author of . Teresa walks in...
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What do you expect living your Calling to be like? Most people naturally say it’s a life where everything feels aligned and at ease. They would not be wrong, however, let’s not forget that another side of Calling exists. Living your Calling includes the struggles of carrying your purpose out. Take the Apostle Paul for instance. He specifically writes that Calling brings struggle, toil, and labor. He reflects on the gift of being called by God to persist in his purpose. Are you struggling in your Calling? If you are, remember that God commissioned you for this unique role. In this episode,...
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Christ is first in everything. We know this, but it can be lost in distractions or interpretations. This conversation goes through the 12 reasons Christ deserves first place. Life Calling is based on our unique position in God’s plan. We would be without form, reason, or purpose if not for Christ. Everything we know that’s seen and unseen moves towards Christ, but how often do you reflect on why Christ comes first? In this episode, we reflect on 12 reasons taken straight from Colossians 1:15-20. As you meditate on this section, it can make you rethink how you relate to your...
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Today’s episode is the first conversation under the Christian Life Calling podcast. This comforting and honest talk is directly with your host, Chris Heinz. While doing this podcast, faith came up often in our discussions of purpose and service. Our shared experiences show that Life Calling is deeply personal like faith. For Christians, Life Calling is guided by faith. God equips us and appoints us to our Callings to serve his purposes, not our own. Ultimately, Life Calling is a unique role of service in God’s plan. This episode is to explain why we’re changing our focus. Our focus...
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Today’s episode is a special compilation of episode highlights and a celebration of a new transition. It’s been a few months since we last released a podcast episode. In that time, life transformed. , I launched a new website, and Life Calling Today went through a brand change. I’m grateful for the former season, but I have dreams for this next season. This is the last episode under our current branding and current name. We are transitioning to focus more on a Christian approach to Life Calling. The new name for our show will be Christian Life Calling podcast to align more...
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A career can oftentimes be a package deal of the calling and gifts you have for the world. Your way of being contributes to the role you play in your company, organization, or community. When you’re first starting out it all seems random, but you realize how it all fits as the bigger picture is revealed. Today, we talk about understanding calling in your 20s. Bryan Ray graduated from Penn State in 2020, and he is now a graduate architect at . In addition to working full-time at the firm, Bryan is also studying for his professional license exams. His story obtains several keys for finding...
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Strengths, which align with your innate talents, allow you to see multiple paths for living your calling. You can follow different paths since your strengths relate to the motives that help you carry out an action, rather than the logic directing you on which action to take. Even in your free time, your strengths are influencing your behavior and choices. Today, we talk about Practical Strengths for your calling. Jo Self is on a mission to ensure talent is not wasted, potential is realized, and happiness is contagious. She has a diverse background in business, which includes developing...
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When you are in hard times, where do you pull your strength from? Being in hard times makes us feel we need something larger than ourselves. People pull help from rage and regret, or sometimes, people pull help from love and compassion. During a tiresome journey, where can our help come from? Today, we talk about touching cancer. Born in the United States, Matt Eby now lives in Australia fulfilling the purpose of helping others. He really gives his life for service to people that need compassion, understanding, or empathy. Matt is currently serving at where he works alongside people who are...
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Don’t be afraid of the messy pieces of your story. People often don’t understand each other, not realizing that we all have a messy story that needs grace. Like a mom and daughter trying to understand each other while dealing with their own lives. Today, we talk about connecting moms and daughters through accepting life’s imperfect story. Dannah Gresh is the best-selling author of over 30 books for teens, tweens, and their parents (written in both English and Spanish). Dannah is a highly sought-after speaker for conferences, weekend retreats, and online Bible studies. She’s also heard...
info_outlineDoes your work fit into your life the way you hope it does? If you truly follow your calling, you’ll see that you’re probably going to get hired for what you got in trouble for as a kid. Today’s guest stands by this philosophy and urges everyone to understand the personal strengths that are taken for granted. In other words, realize that your strengths can be the origin of your work.
Jennifer Vancil provides value as a Strengths-Based Career Coach, and mainly assists people who are looking to feel more connected to their work. She achieved her Bachelor of Arts in Theater and a Masters in Education in Adult Education. Currently, Jennifer teaches the MBA Career Management class at Colorado State University and does career coaching at both Colorado State University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Through her business, Communicating Strengths, Jennifer helps clients handle career changes, resume writing, interview preparation, and positioning for internal promotion.
As Communicating Strengths focuses on strongest skills, Jennifer’s approach to career management includes knowing the nuances of your strengths to build deeper awareness. Usually, people find a more reliable balance in life once they connect with something intrinsic. Jennifer says that the people she primarily works with are in a scenario where they are not getting to use their top strengths. How does life calling relate to work?
Jennifer speaks on the need to have some consistency and some compatibility in your career and work that mirrors your talents. Being honest with yourself, having a discussion about if there is a real match between your view of life and work exposes any disconnect. Jennifer explains how consistency and compatibility across different parts of our life create an integration of calling and work. Listen to Jennifer give the key points of examining our current career, talk through the steps of assessing career options, and explain how to use curiosity to spark change.
Time stamps:
- [00:18] - Jennifer Vancil is a career coach helping people navigate their calling.
- [02:34] - How does theater merge into how Jennifer delivers her skills today? She talks about the moment her theater skills and coaching skills first overlapped.
- [05:25] - Jennifer explains power behind the nuances of the Clifton Strengths assessments.
- [07:18] - Jennifer says you’re probably going to get hired for what you got in trouble for as a kid.
- [09:49] - What does career management include? What sorts of issues are people dealing with in career management?
- [12:07] - How does life calling relate to work? Jennifer speaks on the need to have some consistency and some compatibility in your work that mirrors your talents.
- [14:39] - Here’s a way to think of calling as an overarching theme that is applicable in more than one field of study or part of life.
- [17:32] - Jennifer recalls the conversations that happen when deciding a new direction in career and calling. First, acknowledge the need for change.
- [20:11] - Listen to Jennifer give the key points of examining career and using curiosity to spark change.
- [23:09] - Jennifer discusses her blog post “Creating a strength-based career” that goes deeper into the strategies she spoke about in this episode.
- [24:50] - Think about the different roles in your life, and how you can merge your calling into each one.
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