Discovering Your Calling Part 3: Priority You
At the conclusion of my last blog post, I talked about how everyone is different and blessed with different strengths and weaknesses, and I made a point about how we need to embrace them. In the final installment of Discovering Your Calling, I want to build on that statement I made.
It is my hope and prayer that as you get older, you will begin to find yourself. The question that most people ask is: How do I discover what I was placed on Earth for? I was given an acronym awhile back and I would like to share that with you as you continue to invest in yourself. The acronym is S.W.O.T. The acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I believe people need to constantly conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis if you are going to discover what God has in store for you. I've dug deeper into the four components and here are the key things you should know when conducting this analysis.
1. Strengths
As I will continue to say, you need to understand what you do well if you are discover what the next steps are for you to continue to elevate and move forward. I believe your strengths a lot of the times come from what is interesting to you. You'll notice I said what is interesting to you, because you are trying to discover your calling, right? Yes, it's important to surround yourself with people who have similar interests and things that suit them as you do, but ultimately, you have to be in control in using your strengths to benefit you.
2. Weaknesses
It's a fact, we all have them, including the author of this blog. However, the question that has to be asked is: what are you going to do to address your weaknesses? The answer I believe is simple, you need to recognize that you are not particularly strong in certain areas in whatever is in that you are weak in but more importantly, you should work towards consistent improvement of your weaknesses. Will your weaknesses be gone overnight? No. The process of addressing your weaknesses starts with being careful about who you have around you in your circle who will not make you feel bad about your weaknesses and will not bring it up every chance they get, but instead, be an advocate for you and come along side you to support you in whatever ways or resources needed. Through this, I believe you can slowly start to distance yourself from weaknesses and you will see gradual improvements over time that will help you - one step at a time.
3. Opportunities
Have you opened yourself up to the potential opportunities all because you have spent time evaluating yourself? You never know what could be out there waiting for you. You may find an opportunity knocking on your door that you weren't even expecting to come. You know what they say when the right opportunity knocks, right? Seize it. Sometimes the smallest opportunities can lead to the biggest blessings you've ever seen when you're discovering your purpose and God's plan for you.
4. Threats
Threats are the things that could hold you back from finding yourself. Examples of threats are complacent, negative and greedy people. Hip hop producer DJ Khaled said one time, "you should avoid they." The people I mentioned are just some of the "they" in the world we live in today who you should avoid. But also, sometimes the threats don't involve people, it could be certain places that you hang out at or generally, how you are living your life now could be a threat to becoming the person that God would have you to be. Identify the threats and avoid them.
The bottom line that I've been trying to send throughout this series is this:
Regardless of other people opinions, society's way of making you think you should do things a certain way or other preconceived notions or assumptions about you, you have to realize that the top priority is you as you get older. You want to be happy at the end of the day, right? Don't be afraid to create your own pathway to success. Speaking of creating your own pathway to success, I feel it's appropriate to make something public now. Another reason I started this blog is because I plan on being an English major when I begin my new journey at Clemson University on August 19, with the intention of one day becoming a journalist in news or sports media. I want to provide an avenue to not only practice creative writing, but as I said in an earlier blog post, my goal is to serve the hearts of other people and spread messages of encouragement and assurance that can impact, change lives and inspire others.
Understand your calling is yours. You need to hold on to it and don't let go when you discover your calling because this, outside of the day you were born, is the most important day of your life.
I hope you have enjoyed this series and I hope you have gotten something out of it that can help you further discover the calling God has placed on your life.
Connect with me on social media: 1bstockdale on Twitter and Instagram.
Til next time, More Blessings and More Life to you all
Brandon
It is my hope and prayer that as you get older, you will begin to find yourself. The question that most people ask is: How do I discover what I was placed on Earth for? I was given an acronym awhile back and I would like to share that with you as you continue to invest in yourself. The acronym is S.W.O.T. The acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I believe people need to constantly conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis if you are going to discover what God has in store for you. I've dug deeper into the four components and here are the key things you should know when conducting this analysis.
1. Strengths
As I will continue to say, you need to understand what you do well if you are discover what the next steps are for you to continue to elevate and move forward. I believe your strengths a lot of the times come from what is interesting to you. You'll notice I said what is interesting to you, because you are trying to discover your calling, right? Yes, it's important to surround yourself with people who have similar interests and things that suit them as you do, but ultimately, you have to be in control in using your strengths to benefit you.
2. Weaknesses
It's a fact, we all have them, including the author of this blog. However, the question that has to be asked is: what are you going to do to address your weaknesses? The answer I believe is simple, you need to recognize that you are not particularly strong in certain areas in whatever is in that you are weak in but more importantly, you should work towards consistent improvement of your weaknesses. Will your weaknesses be gone overnight? No. The process of addressing your weaknesses starts with being careful about who you have around you in your circle who will not make you feel bad about your weaknesses and will not bring it up every chance they get, but instead, be an advocate for you and come along side you to support you in whatever ways or resources needed. Through this, I believe you can slowly start to distance yourself from weaknesses and you will see gradual improvements over time that will help you - one step at a time.
3. Opportunities
Have you opened yourself up to the potential opportunities all because you have spent time evaluating yourself? You never know what could be out there waiting for you. You may find an opportunity knocking on your door that you weren't even expecting to come. You know what they say when the right opportunity knocks, right? Seize it. Sometimes the smallest opportunities can lead to the biggest blessings you've ever seen when you're discovering your purpose and God's plan for you.
4. Threats
Threats are the things that could hold you back from finding yourself. Examples of threats are complacent, negative and greedy people. Hip hop producer DJ Khaled said one time, "you should avoid they." The people I mentioned are just some of the "they" in the world we live in today who you should avoid. But also, sometimes the threats don't involve people, it could be certain places that you hang out at or generally, how you are living your life now could be a threat to becoming the person that God would have you to be. Identify the threats and avoid them.
The bottom line that I've been trying to send throughout this series is this:
Regardless of other people opinions, society's way of making you think you should do things a certain way or other preconceived notions or assumptions about you, you have to realize that the top priority is you as you get older. You want to be happy at the end of the day, right? Don't be afraid to create your own pathway to success. Speaking of creating your own pathway to success, I feel it's appropriate to make something public now. Another reason I started this blog is because I plan on being an English major when I begin my new journey at Clemson University on August 19, with the intention of one day becoming a journalist in news or sports media. I want to provide an avenue to not only practice creative writing, but as I said in an earlier blog post, my goal is to serve the hearts of other people and spread messages of encouragement and assurance that can impact, change lives and inspire others.
Understand your calling is yours. You need to hold on to it and don't let go when you discover your calling because this, outside of the day you were born, is the most important day of your life.
I hope you have enjoyed this series and I hope you have gotten something out of it that can help you further discover the calling God has placed on your life.
Connect with me on social media: 1bstockdale on Twitter and Instagram.
Til next time, More Blessings and More Life to you all
Brandon
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