Designing education around “Ikagi”: A reason for being
The Japanese concept of “Ikigai” has been studied alongside cultural practices such as the Sardinian diet as the secret for unlocking longevity and happiness later in life.
What if, rather than waiting until those later years of life, we placed a laser focus on helping our children develop the skills necessary to catapult them into the center of the Ikigai chart above? How and what would need to fundamentally change about our current systems of education?
Think about your own child’s Learning Journey. Where is he in his path towards discovering answers to the following questions:
- What do I love?
- What am I good at?
- What can I be paid to do?
- What does the world need?
As a child, these questions — particularly 3 and 4 — can feel overwhelming. But if we as adults can help our children answer 1 and 2, the flywheel towards full Ikigai will begin to move. Start with igniting passion and the rest will follow.
