Finding Your Ikigai
A while back, I had read the book called “ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”, written by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia, which inspired me to write a couple of words on the topic of the so called “ikigai”, in terms of what it is and how it can help us improve and reshape our lives.
I enjoyed the book due to its simplistic style of writing and it was also a short yet impactful read so I would suggest it to plenty of other people for them to give it a go.
The main idea behind the book and the concept of ikigai is about helping you find your true purpose in life, a purpose that feels aligned with your interests and how those can help the world around you.
So if that sounds like something you would like to learn more about - which is something that I think anyone could benefit from - then you have come to the right place.
WHAT IS AN IKIGAI?
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means your ‘reason for being.’ ‘Iki’ in Japanese means ‘life,’ and ‘gai’ describes value or worth. Your ikigai is your life purpose or what truly lights you up on the inside. It’s essentially what brings you joy and inspires you to get out of bed every day.
It’s also important to highlight that the traditional Japanese philosophy focuses on finding your purpose in life while the adapted westernized version of the ikigai has made it a method of finding your dream career.
Japanese psychologist Michiko Kumano (2017) has said that ikigai is a state of wellbeing that arises from devotion to activities one enjoys, which also brings a sense of fulfillment.
The Westernized version of ikigai says that your dream career has to include the following aspects:
What you love
What you’re good at
What you can be paid for
What the world needs
A visual representation of what makes up your ikigai
WHY BOTHER DISCOVERING YOUR IKIGAI
Gives you a greater sense of what you want in life
Better decision making (More time and money saved)
Makes it easier to say no to things and to say yes to the right opportunities
Better use of your time if you roughly know what you are after
Finding the best balance between doing what you love, what is useful to the world and what you are also good at
Can make meaningful contributions to the world sooner
Can increase your expertise and understanding in a field by focusing more on it
Being able to plan ahead for potential future struggles and issues that may arise in your field
HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR IKIGAI?
STEP 1: Answer the 4 fundamental questions
What you love:
What are your interests and passions (broad and niche)?
What are your favorite past time activities/ hobbies?
What do you enjoy/ not enjoy about your work and hobbies?
Do you feel a sense of being absorbed/ flow state during your work and hobbies?
Do you feel excited about your work and hobbies?
What you’re good at:
What are your top personal strengths and skills?
Do people ever come to you for advice with what you do?
Do you ever receive compliments for your work?
Do you find that that you excel at what you do?
Are your hobbies and profession intuitive to you or does it take more time to learn?
What you can be paid for:
Are other people making a career/ getting paid for the same work and hobbies you do?
Do you currently make a good living/Will you eventually make a good living from the work you do?
Have you noticed people wanting to buy what you do or make?
Is there a healthy level of competition regarding your work and hobbies?
What the world needs
Would you say your work and hobbies are in a high demand currently? What about the future?
Picture the next year, 10 years, and 100 years — will your work still be valuable?
Are you solving either a social, economic, or environmental problem?
STEP 2: Narrow it down
Based on your answers, write down a list of career opportunities that sound exciting and interesting to you and write down how your ideal day would look like (What you would be doing)
STEP 3: Learn about it
Learn about those career paths either through reading more about that specific career, educating yourself through online platforms or by asking someone who has the job you want to do, how their day looks like and what kind of benefits and struggles they face.
STEP 4: Try it out
After learning, put your ideal career/ ideal day into practice. Try it out and see wether that is actually something that you enjoy doing? Would you do it everyday? Would it be too intense or would you get bored?
Ask yourself what did you enjoy about it? What was less enjoyable and why?
Also consider how could you tweak your ideal day/ career to make it even more enjoyable to you?
