Jennifer Tosti-Kharas

So when you have a stronger calling, you will expend more effort on calling relevant tasks.

So not just any task, right?

It has to be sort of, so if my calling is toward my work,

domain, and then I'll put in more effort at work.

The mechanism through which this happens is through enjoyment of that work.

So stronger calling means I enjoy the work more.

Therefore, I will work harder at it.

Exactly right.

Yeah, so a calling could almost be like a deep reserve of resilience, of connection to the work, the sense that even if things are not going well in work, that somehow my connection to the work that I'm doing, my belief in my ability to do it can help me to overcome a setback.

Yeah, so this was with Marco DiRenzo and Ned Powley.

We conducted a survey of military officers.

So they were mid-career, sort of junior officers, but with supervisory experience.

They had about 10 to 12 years of service on average in the military.

And we specifically looked at their perception that they had hit a career plateau, which is just what it sounds like.

So rather than this sense that I'm on the typical career upward trajectory that is desired, that I have leveled off.

Basically, this subjective sense that I'm not learning and growing and developing in my current career.

And we found that the stronger their callings toward the military, the less likely they were to perceive that they were at a plateaued space in their career.

That in turn drove their commitment to staying in the military as an organization.

Stronger callings mean you're just more deeply connected to that domain.

You might want to learn more about it.