Searching for Ikigai

I recently stumbled upon this venn-diagram the other day. As I experiment with self-employment, I have found myself coming back to reflect on it.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being”. According to the Japanese, Everyone has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self.
 — Wikipedia

This surprisingly artful ad has a more eloquent translation: “the reason you wake up in the morning”

I found it profound how different each of the characters decided to lead their lives and how they were all driven by a deep sense of purpose. A dance teacher who patiently pushes her students improve. A woodworker who can’t wait to delight customers with his art. An athlete that pushes himself to practice every day so his team may become champions. A grandmother who pours the little energy she has left to host family events and see her grandchildren.

While none may be your calling, take a moment to reflect on what yours may be. When do you feel most like your authentic self? Do you see challenges on the horizon that excite you? Don’t be afraid to take this time to reflect for yourself. Where is your curiosity taking you?

Steps towards Fulfilling Work

Stop trying to separate work and life and start viewing it as two halves of a whole. It’s about accepting they can’t possibly be separated, and that perfect equilibrium doesn’t exist. After spending years attaching my entire ego to my work, I’m come to realize that you can’t put life on pause while you go build a unicorn. Rather that working to live, I’m looking for ways to create to fulfill my life’s work.

You don’t need me to tell you there isn’t shortcut to discovering your purpose. From my fascination with Ikigai, I’ve tried several exercises that helped immensely for building a plan for yourself. If you feel you need a nudge in the right direction, I encourage you to try one out and see if it works for you:

80,000 Careers Guide: A non-profit project in partnership with The University of Oxford. Provides a functional web-based questionnaire that asks you some hard questions about what a fulfilling career looks like to you and provides data on big problems out there that could use your help. A longer, deluxe version is also available.

The Breakout List Purpose Exercise: Short printout questionnaire mainly based around looking at your role models and pointed questions to draw out the change you want to see in the world. Check out the actual Breakout List PDF for a list of hyper-growth companies.

14 Paths to Passion Workbook: A more comprehensive list of exercises, 14 in all as promised. Haven’t gone through these personally they all seem relevant. Would love to know if they work for you!

Don’t Squander Privilege

For those that can already afford to be pondering deeper questions like being in your element, take a step back. There are many in this world just struggling to get by, hoping one day to give their children or children’s children the opportunity to pursue their dreams and do deep fulfilling work.

The desire for fulfilling work — a job that provides a deep sense of purpose, and reflects our values, passions and personality — is a modern invention…

We have entered a new age of fulfillment, in which the great dream is to trade up from money to meaning.
 — Roman Krznaric, How to Find Fulfilling Work

Different generations uphold different values. I am grateful to have been extended opportunities by my family and community growing up that others could only envy. It wasn’t so I could live a comfortable life, but a fulfilling one.

The Edge Between Fearless and Reckless

Like all advice, there can be misinterpretations that justify people never committing to anything and leading a flippant or hedonistic lifestyle. Always in a perpetual state of searching for passion. But revisiting why you are getting to these crossroads serves as an opportunity to snap out of the pattern. Are your efforts producing results you can be proud of? Are you aware of the scope of your sacrifices or opportunity costs?

I have previously reflected on a dichotomy regarding Grit and Stubbornness — it being difficult to judge when someone is being gritty or stubborn until you see the result of their attitude. Perhaps Fearlessness and Recklessness are also two sides of the same coin. Something that we only judge when we find out how your choices turned out. My approach to combat this is shortening feedback loops to adjust course or fail faster.