How to re-discover your purpose
Is your job aligned with your passion? Are your greatest skills contributing towards something the world actually needs? Have you discovered your purpose in life, and are you living it?
No? Read on…
A month ago I was let go from my job as Head of Product at 29k. A job I was passionate about, and one I thought was perfectly aligned with my purpose. It has been an exciting year with ups and downs. We’ve achieved a lot, but our paths were diverging, and it was time to go our separate ways. It’s never fun to be let go, and the timing is never quite right. But if nothing else, at least it has given me the opportunity to step back and re-calibrate my compass. It gave me a chance to think about what I want to do the next time I grow up. I’ve decided to set aside three solid months to think, feel, reflect, and hopefully re-discover my next purpose.
It gave me a chance to think about what I want to do the next time I grow up.
A couple of days ago I posted a picture in Social Media. It was a picture of my notebook where I had scribbled a ven-diagram with 4 overlapping circles, and jotted down some unintelligible notes. The picture was taken from an angle and was difficult to read. But it seems like people read it anyway. And the response has been tremendous.
So I decided to write this blog post about it…
What I had drawn was a Japanese framework known as Ikigai. Ikigai translates to “Reason for being” and is a method for aligning what you love, with what you are good at, with what you can be paid for, with what the world needs. These are illustrated as overlapping circles and in the intersections you find your passion, profession, mission and vocation. If you succeed in aligning all four you find Ikigai, or your reason to be.
Easy right? Not quite…
Unfortunately these are the big questions in life..
- What do I love?
- What am I good at?
- What does the world need?
..and to further complicate it the answers aren’t static. The world keeps changing and I’m not the same person I was a year ago. My skills and interests have evolved. New opportunities arise. Life happens.
I think of Ikigai as a compass. Or at least a method for re-calibrating my compass. It won’t tell me what to do next, or how to get to where I want to go. But it does give me a sense of direction. Drawing it out on paper, I start seeing patterns. My brain starts generating new ideas, and more often than not it leads to new insights about myself and the world I live in.
I try to do these types of exercises at least once per year. Usually not under such peculiar circumstances, but nevertheless I find it valuable to set aside some quality time to reflect about my direction in life. And I do mean quality time. Figuring out your life isn’t done in an afternoon, so I suggest setting aside some time to work through it. Make an early draft. Sleep on it. Discuss it with friends and family. Keep iterating. It will never become perfect, but as the pieces start falling in place, it will start to feel right. Trust me, you’ll know in your entire body when you’re onto something.
For me the process has only just begun. I’ve made my first draft, and have revised it a couple of times. There are a couple of ideas that excite me, but I’m not there yet.
I write to reflect upon my own process, but also to help others in similar situations. It’s OK not to know. There are ways of figuring it out. Hang in there :) In my next post I’ll share 5 tips for creating your own Ikigai. Follow to get notified when I post it.
