Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Stephen Covey on How I Found My Calling

Stephen Covey shares his journey of vocational discovery:

"It was understood that I would follow in my father’s footsteps and join the family business after college, but that plan changed during my mission, a period of missionary work undertaken by every young Mormon. "

"I was 20 years old and serving in Great Britain when my mission president asked me to lead a seminar to train the local leaders of the church. The leaders were 40, 50, and 60 years old. I said, 'I can't do this. There's no way.'"

"But my mission president told me that he had complete faith that I could do it and eventually persuaded me to take it on. He helped me prepare for the event, and it ended up going extremely well. I found I experienced a great deal of satisfaction from extending myself and really helping other people change their lives. That, to me, was so much bigger than going into business that I knew that I'd found my calling—I wanted to be a teacher, helping people to have happier, more successful lives."

Source: Jack Canfield & Gay Hendricks, ‘Stephen Covey,’ You’ve Got to Read this Book! (New York: Collins, 2007), 228.

Image: Stephen Covey