IKIGAI and “Your Reason for Being”
Everything mankind has ever pursued from time immemorial till date has been in the search for happiness and good health. People fought wars to defend freedom and happiness. We work daily because financial security brings happiness. Billions are spent yearly on ‘organic’ items because people want to live healthier lives.
Scientists wanted to discover where exactly people had the happiest and healthiest lives. Their research yielded six spots around the globe, where people lived longer, more fulfilled and more satisfying lives. One of these spots was a small island in Japan, and when the scientists asked the natives about the reasons for their good health and happiness, they were told that the source was their IKIGAI.
According to Wikipedia, IKIGAI in Japanese roughly means “thing that you live for” or “the reason why you wake up in the morning”. So what does this concept do? It helps you discover how your inner values can meet the ideals of your surrounding world, and how your knowledge, skills, and abilities can harmonize with what is required within your ecosystem. IKIGAI shows the path to living healthily and while at it, getting fulfillment and satisfaction in all you do. Or, as Google Translate calls it, to find “your reason for being”.
You may be wondering “how do I find my IKIGAI”, so let me take you on a journey…
It is actually not that complicated! Take a piece of paper and make a list of all the things in life that you love; Activities you like to perform (i.e. bungee jumping or road trips), tangible objects you like (books, devices, shoes, etc.) and also intangibles like i.e. “sunshine on my face”. Write down all that comes to your mind, there is no right or wrong. Take your time, go over the list again, read it out loud, and repeat until you feel comfortable that you’ve noted all ideas which make your heart beat faster.
Now, make a second list, with all the things that you are good at. Think about your knowledge (i.e. science, things learned formally e.g. Biology), your skills (could be baking, sewing, or even gaming), and abilities (i.e. being able to organize a gathering or graphic design). Talk to people who can give you honest feedback and think it through until you are happy with the list. Remember, you can revisit these lists and amend anytime…
Next, make a third list, with all that you think the world needs. Start with global needs (i.e. climate change, economic and/or political challenges) and then dig down into more detailed necessities and demands. What is it that you and other people are currently lacking? Analyze your values, what is it that you really would want to change in the world?
Lastly, make a list of all that comes to your mind that you can get paid for. Be creative, go through all possible activities which can be financially rewarded, and also things that you have never done before but for which you can get remuneration, and think about different types of compensation.
Work on your four lists again the following days, change and amend where you see fit and ask your family and friends for input until you feel comfortable and ready to advance. You have now completed the first step on your journey to finding your IKIGAI, so let’s tackle step two. The second step of the journey is to combine these 4 lists to better understand your inner values and personality.
Take your first two lists, where you wrote down all you love and all you are good at and think about ways to combine items from both lists, writing down concepts or categories containing elements from both. This will help you to discover concepts of YOUR PASSION.
Let me give you an example of my own journey. One of the things I love is “to help & care for others”, and I am good at “giving presentations”, so one of my passions is “to teach people how to live a healthier lifestyle”. Notice how I combined something I love to do, with something I am good at in order to discover my passion.
So, by unifying all you that love, with all that you are good at, you will create your own list of keywords for YOUR PASSION.
Then, mixing all you love with what the world needs (your lists 1 and 3) will help you discover YOUR MISSION. What are the things that you adore that your people around you cry out for? In my case, I love to “learn and discover new things” and I believe the world needs “more knowledge & information”, so my mission is to “discover and spread information about all the MOOCs” (massive open online courses).
Analyzing what the world needs and what you can get paid for (your lists 3 and 4) will help you detect the keywords of YOUR VOCATION.
Lastly, combine what you are good at and what you can get paid for (your lists 2 and 4) to find YOUR PROFESSION.
You have now defined your ideal values (passion, mission, vocation, and profession), and you should take time to elaborate on each keyword, turning these into tangibles. Let me follow up with my earlier example. How can I “teach people how to live a healthier lifestyle”? Well, I can blog about how Shiatsu healed my chronic back pain on my web page, I can post easy recipes for healthy cooking on my YouTube channel, I can drag my friends to try a first yoga session, etc.
Take your time to note several possibilities for each keyword on your lists and don’t be afraid to write activities you’ve never done before, make life an adventure and be ready to explore!!! There will be easy and simple actions and more complex ones…
Once you have completed your mission, your passion, your vocation, and your profession, you have completed step two of the journey. The third and last step is to aggregate these 4 items. Note that the key word here is to aggregate; you need to combine all items to find what truly stimulates and motivates you.
Discover activities which ultimately match all four categories. As you can see in the picture below, there are intersections, where you might combine only three of the four inner values. For example, you can do something that you love to do, that you’re good at, and that the world needs, but that you can NOT get paid for. The result would be a feeling of delight but without wealth. Or you can do something that you are good at, that the world needs and that you can get paid for, but that you don’t love, resulting in comfort but with a feeling of emptiness.
Your goal is to discover the intersection of all spheres and to define activities that’ll help you enjoy a longer and healthier life, where you feel comfortable, satisfied, delighted, accomplished, excited, complacent as well as fulfilled. So take your time…
I trust this short introduction to IKIGAI will heighten your interest to dig deeper into this wonderful Japanese concept. During my journey, I discovered how important it was for me to share information to help contribute to a better world, hence this first post. You will find plenty of books and online information about the subject and if you want, please drop me a line and I will guide you…
Thank you! Enjoy the journey! And please do share your comments and thoughts.
