When AI takes over parts of your job, you may start to wonder whether the job means anything anymore.
If a machine can write the report, draft the code, build the spreadsheet, or answer the customer, is what’s left still a calling? Or is it just a pile of leftover tasks?
I think the answer depends on whether you know the difference between your calling and your job description. They aren’t the same thing, and right now that difference matters a lot.
This is the seventh article in a series about the human side of AI. If you want to start from the beginning, go to The Computer Works for Us.
Calling is why and what. A job description is how.
The simplest way I know to tell them apart goes like this.
Your calling is about why and what. Why am I working? What are we trying to build? What problem are we trying to solve? Who are we trying to help?
Your job description is about how, and maybe when. Which tasks you do. Which tools you use. Which techniques you follow. What your week looks like.
AI is changing the how dramatically, and it’s changing it every few months. But it hasn’t touched the why at all. A machine can’t tell you why your work matters. It can only help you do it.
Hold one tightly and the other loosely
So my advice is to hold your calling tightly and hold your job description loosely.
If you’ve tied your sense of meaning to the specific tasks you perform, AI is going to feel like it’s taking your meaning away, one task at a time. But if your meaning is tied to why you work and what you’re trying to get done, the tasks can change and the meaning stays put.
I think the days of overly prescriptive job descriptions are behind us.
A lot of job descriptions name specific tools you have to use. “Must use this software. Must follow this process.” That made sense when tools lasted for years. Now the technology moves so fast that by the time the job description gets approved, the tools may already be out of date.
Better job descriptions, and better ways of thinking about our own work, focus on the big things. What are we trying to accomplish, and why are we trying to do it? Then they let the how flex as the technology changes, and it’s changing fast.
If you’re a leader, this is worth acting on. Write roles around outcomes and purpose instead of tools. If you’re not a leader, write your own one-sentence answer to “Why do I do this work?” and put it somewhere you’ll see it often.
My double life
I’ve got an unusual vantage point on this. I’m a pastor at a small church, and I’m also an engineering leader at a software company.
People sometimes assume those are two completely different worlds. What surprises me is how much they feel the same. My first principles haven’t changed between them.
At work, I’m in the people business. Yes, we use engineering to solve problems in the world. But as a leader, my real job is helping people do their best work, with as much joy as they can have.
In the church, I’m in the people business too. I want to help people find meaning in what they do and live the life God created them for.
Both jobs have their practical, tactical parts. As a pastor, I prepare sermons and lead worship services and manage a budget. As an engineering leader, I plan projects, review work and make technical decisions. Those are the how. They change, and AI can help with some of them now.
But none of them are the why.
The why underneath both
For me, the why underneath both jobs is the same. Jesus called it the greatest commandment: to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30–31).
Preaching does that. So does leading worship, and so does managing the church’s budget, believe it or not.
And my engineering work serves it too, especially the second half. We’re building things that help people with real human problems, and I can keep my eye on that no matter what tools we use to build them.
That also means my first job at work isn’t really software. My first job is to care for the people I work with. You could even call it ministering to them, though nobody’s going to use that word in a staff meeting. I’m in the people business, not the software business.
You don’t have to share my faith to find your own version of this. Your “why” may be different from mine. Maybe it’s taking care of your family. Maybe it’s seeing your patients get well, or your students learn to read, or your customers get treated fairly. Whatever it is, it’s bigger than your task list. AI may be able to change your task list, but it can’t change your “why.”
What to do this week
Write your why. In one sentence: why do you do the work you do? Who does it help?
List your how. Write down the main tasks and tools in your job right now. Notice how many of them have already changed in the last year.
Loosen your grip on the how. When a task changes or a tool goes away, ask whether your why is affected. Usually, it isn’t.
If you lead people, rewrite one role around purpose. Take a job description and replace the tool list with the outcome you actually want.
Find the people in your job. Whatever business you think you’re in, you’re probably in the people business too. Who’s one person at work you could care for this week?
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