Can you be too young to know your calling?

Some people discover their calling very early in life.

Take Jessica Hulsey Nickel, president and CEO of the Addiction Policy Forum.

In an interview on the NPR program Morning Edition, she states:

“I think my first advocacy day when it comes to addiction was in kindergarten. I was in Mrs. Dean's (ph) kindergarten class. And for my first show and tell, I came to school wanting to talk about heroin and that you shouldn't use it and if your parents started to, these are some things you should be thinking about. And Mrs. Dean, in a very lovely way, helped me edit some of the content of my first talk to talk about good medicines and bad medicines. And you shouldn't take a medicine unless your parent or a doctor gives it to you. So…I found my calling when I was five years old. And I've been pretty focused on it ever since."

The interview goes on to describe the ways Jessica continues to work as an advocate addressing addiction. (The full interview is available here.)

She found her calling, her purposeful career path, as a very young child.

You may think such focused self-discovery is rare. And it is. You may envy her clarity of purpose. And yet, while not everyone finds their true calling at the age of five, each one of us holds essential data in our early stories and deep ancestry. This data can point us to the core reason we are here and what we are meant to do—our calling and purpose.

In coaching my clients, I focus on applying the tool of early recollections, developed by psychologist Alfred Adler, to their current situation.

“Early recollections are stories of single, specific incidents in childhood which the individual is able to reconstitute in present experience as mental images or as focused sensory memories.” (https://www.adlerpedia.org/concepts/)

Early recollections offer a story-based window into beliefs and patterns that may be holding the person back from their true potential and thriving.

By using this tool along with other assessments, I can assist my clients as they locate, define, and transform their situation in the direction of their purpose.

Are you ready to move forward, toward the work you know, deep inside, to be true for you?

Using the Storyslices Story + Mastery = More™ method, you’ll be on your way to your most meaningful, transformative work.

Contact Catherine@storyslices.com or 651-354-5901 for a free initial consultation.

Small coaching groups are forming for March and April, 2018. There is a space waiting for you. Learn more and sign up here.

#addiction #career #earlyrecollections #coaching #leadershipdevelopment #transitions #adler