In story form, the main character or hero wants something and embarks on a quest to achieve it. That quest is riddled with challenges and obstacles, which is what makes the story fun and entertaining….
Browsing Category Knowing Your Story
From Burned-Out to Bakery Founder with Michelle Savage
Michelle Savage is a friend and former client. A few years ago she left her job and moved to Europe for few months, and dream about what would come next for her. I had the chance…
What’s Your Inciting Incident?
In story form the Inciting Incident is the event that jump starts the narrative. It sets in motion the events that push the main character out of her/his comfort zone. In life, there are certain…
Self Compassion in Your Career with Leo Babauta
Leo Babauta is a blogger, author, and teacher. He is the creator of the popular blog zen habits.com. Leo’s work and expertise centers on personal change. I had the opportunity to speak with Leo about…
The Inciting Incident in Your Quest for Calling
Change sucks.
“It was fun to have the majority of my life completely up in the air,” said no one ever.
Change can do a lot things. Change can make life better. Change can fix big problems. Change can get you more money, more time, more meaning, more impact. And change can leave you with less of those things.
But no matter what, change is painful.
Why? Because even the most adventurous of us like to feel comfortable sometimes. We like stability and consistency in many parts of life.
The hard truth is that finding purpose, passion, and calling requires a great deal of change.
As a result, few enter fully into the quest for meaning without some outside force initiating it. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just how it is.
All Great Stories Start Somewhere
In story form, all great stories have an inciting incident. It’s that thing that jumpstarts the story and interrupts the main character’s life as usual. A good inciting incident moves a story forward and points directly to the climax and resolution.
The reason we love when stories that have these kinds of moments is that we relate to them. We’ve all had some version of normal and everyday life, and then had it interrupted and ripped away by something outside of our control. We’ve all been pushed from places of comfort and simplicity into struggle and complexity. We know what it’s like, so inciting incidents speak truth to us about ourselves and about our lives.
As I’ve worked with clients, there’s always a reason that they’ve sought me out. Something has happened (or hasn’t happened) that has disrupted their vision for themselves and their work.
No one signs up to do deep soul searching work without a reason. It’s too challenging.
If the choice is between Netflix and hard work, there has to be a reason to choose the work.
Though the specifics vary greatly from one person to the next, I wanted to explore the common events in life that propel us into conversations about calling, life direction, passion and purpose.
My guess is that something on this list will resonate with you. Likely you’ve been through a number of these experiences, but one or two in particular has challenged you to ask questions about your identity and life’s work. I’d like to know which ones.