For many, finding purpose and fulfilment in life is an equally beautiful and frustrating part of the human experience.
WHAT IS IKIGAI?
Ikigai is a Japanese word that translates as a reason for being, a reason to get up in the morning, a ‘raison d’être’ as the French would say.
It’s the combination of IKI, meaning life, and KAI, meaning the realisation of hope and expectations.
Ikigai combines the joy from doing something and a sense of purpose, meaning and well-being. It’s feeling that your life is valuable, that you have an impact. It’s not linked to your status in society, or the money you earn.
This concept comes from the island of Okinawa in Japan, where inhabitants seem to be living longer than the national average. One of the cornerstones of the Okinawans' lifestyle is that they have found their Ikigai.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR IKIGAI?
As seen in the Venn diagram above, your ikigai lies at the intersection between four interdependent elements:
What you love (your passion)
What the world needs (your mission)
What you are good at (your vocation)
What you can get paid for (your profession)
Let’s break these down a little further.
1. Passion
What inspires you?
Forget the worries that plague your day-to-day and cloud your vision of the world. Picture this: money is no object, the opinions of others are irrelevant, and you can spend your time and energy on whatever excites you most. Explore the depth and scope of this passion. Distributing this across your commitments could enable you to enjoy an equally profound feeling of enthusiasm at work and in your downtime.
2. Mission
What makes you feel useful?
There is a special kind of satisfaction that comes from being able to make a difference in the world. Making a valuable contribution to something is admirable from a social, moral, and humanitarian standpoint. You don’t have to believe that you were “put on this Earth” to accomplish something in particular. But we all have it within us to share and give to the world around us.
3. Vocation
What are you drawn to?
The very word ‘vocation’ is derived from the Latin vocatio, meaning ‘call’ (i.e. your ‘calling’). It refers to what you feel especially suited to, given your abilities, qualifications, experience, and personality.
4. Profession
What activities do you find most productive and fruitful?
This is the aspect that is specifically what you are paid for, and what is commonly understood as your primary (if not sole) source of income. But from a more meaningful perspective, your chosen profession should be the outcome of all of the aforementioned aspects.
If you want to try to find your IKIGAI take this free ikigai personality test or check this example.
