How to Find Your Call to Adventure: Discover Your Zone of Genius
What I Mean by “Call to Adventure”
When I say “call to adventure,” I’m not talking about something grand or dramatic.
I’m talking about living a life where you follow the ideas that spark your curiosity, where you find activities that put you in a flow state, that give you energy, and that you deeply enjoy.
Sometimes that means skill acquisition and mastery, but not always.
Your call to adventure could be as simple as gardening.
What matters most is that the activity brings you energy and sustains your curiosity in a deep way.
To me, this is how God speaks to us: through the things we’re naturally drawn to, the things that give us energy and excitement — not in a shallow, fleeting way, but in a way that keeps us engaged year after year.
My Own Story: Dancing as a Call
For me, dancing was one of those things.
For a really long time, I felt silly about the fact that all I wanted to do was dance.
For one, it wasn’t considered a real career.
I also judged myself for wanting to dance.
I thought that it didn't seem “manly.”
On top of that, dancing had a bad financial prospect.
I had read a book that said dance instructors earned only about $23,000 a year.
Essentially, dancing was going to lead me to a life of financial difficulty.
While I felt discouraged about the prospect of always struggling financially, I couldn’t ignore the pull that I felt towards it.
So I danced.
And because I loved it, I kept dancing.
Although I would have never guessed it, pursuing dance turned out to be one of the most fruitful choices of my life.
I learned, practiced, performed, taught others — and over time, it opened doors I couldn’t have imagined.
Dancing helped me break out of my shell, build confidence, develop friendships, and eventually even led me to meet my wife.
Financially, as a dance instructor (once I learned to sell my classes), I started making a full-time income, teaching less than part-time hours!
And now, thanks to dance, we have a business where we currently employ 11 team members, and we have helped our clients make millions of dollars!
I would have never imagined this!
That’s the lesson: sometimes your call to adventure looks impractical at first.
But if it gives you energy, you need to take it seriously.
It’s About Energy
The heart of this is energy.
Life isn’t just about what you should do — it’s about what energizes you.
Rick Rubin, in The Creative Act, talks about energy being stored outside of us — meaning the activity itself gives or drains it.
For example, for me, doing four hours of sales calls completely drains me, even if I had a good night of sleep before the four hours.
However, I can easily play 4 hours of pickleball, and while at the end I'll be physically tire, mentally I'll feel recharged.
Same thing with the tools I use for work.
I can look at a spreadsheet for a couple of minutes before I start yawning.
However, working on my iPad, in a whiteboard app, brainstorming with my Apple pencil?
I can do that for hours and leave more energized than when I started.
In my opinion, the things that energize you are your compass, and I've been trying to engineer my life to do more of what energizes me and less of what doesn't.
Below, I share a couple of things that you can do to find things, activities, people, or places that energize you.
Step 1: Build Awareness With a Time Study
The simplest way to find your call to adventure is to do a two-week time study:
Every 15 minutes, write down what you were doing.
At the end of the day, categorize each activity:
Green = gave you energy
Yellow = neutral
Red = drained you
Patterns will emerge.
You’ll see what fills your tank and what empties it.
That’s your first clue to where your call to adventure lies.
Step 2: Journal Your Energy
If a time study feels overwhelming, you can also journal.
Reflect on:
What activities in your past have left you energized?
When have you lost track of time because you were so absorbed?
Which people, environments, or tools (like my iPad) seem to unlock your best energy?
If nothing comes to mind, that’s a sign you need to try more things.
Sometimes you have to detox from quick dopamine (scrolling, distractions) and let boredom show you what you really want to do.
Step 3: Experiment With Curiosity
Your curiosity is a whisper of your call.
Follow it.
Always wanted to take a singing lesson? Do it.
Curious about a new sport? Try it.
Want to learn to draw, even if you’re “bad”? Start.
Don’t overthink whether it’s practical.
Often, the impractical thing leads to the most practical outcomes years later.
Engineer Your Life Around Energy
Once you identify the things that energize you, design your life and work to include more of them.
For me, that meant shifting more of my company work to brainstorming on my iPad.
Even if it’s slower, it’s more creative, more enjoyable, and ultimately more valuable.
The same applies in life:
Spend time with people who give you energy.
Shape your role at work toward tasks that energize you.
Create routines that maximize time in your “zone of genius.”
Trust the Process and Have Faith
This isn’t about instant results.
It’s about years of sustained practice in something you love.
Over time, you’ll naturally get better, and opportunities will emerge.
Walt Disney tinkered with trains before Disneyland.
Steve Wozniak played with circuit boards for fun before Apple.
MrBeast made thousands of “impractical” videos before building his empire.
They all followed the thread of what energized them — even when it looked foolish — and it led to something massive.
Final Thoughts
Your call to adventure isn’t about chasing money or status.
It’s about finding the activities, curiosities, and environments that give you energy — and then taking them seriously.
At first, it may feel impractical.
But if you pursue those energy-giving things with faith, you’ll not only feel more fulfilled — you may also open doors to relationships, careers, and opportunities you never could have planned for.
