Money or happiness?
There’s a fork in the road ahead.
One path leads to wealth, property and success.
The other, to purpose and fulfillment.
The phrase “Money can’t buy you happiness” is about the crossroad. As is all the research that claims that money DOES lead to happiness, depending on your annual income. Many musicians have bargained away their souls here. Robert Frost wrote a poem about it and called it “The Road Not Taken.” Many a businessman chose his path and went on to make a dent in the universe, as did many a stay-at-home father who was fondly remembered by his children.
It’s a river that runs through every myth and legend. Will you take the high road or the low road?
The quandary feels so real, the situation so viscerally dangerous.
But maybe, just maybe, the danger is overstated.
Maybe the dilemma is an illusion.
Having your cake and eating it, too.
There’s a philosophy I’ve been deeply influenced by.
It’s called Ikigai. It’s a Japanese concept. Its literal meaning is “reason for being.” And it makes an astounding claim.
It says: “You can have your cake and eat it, too.”
And it proceeds to ask you four questions. Where all four questions overlap, you will find the work you were meant to do. There, you will find your Ikigai.
The four questions are:
- What do you love doing?
- What are you good at doing?
- What work does the world need?
- What work can you be paid for?
It’s a remarkably straightforward way of navigating your life.
Do you love what you’re doing? No? Well then, change it.
Can you be paid for what you’re doing? No? Well, find something you CAN be paid for.
It’s that simple.
Now, simple doesn’t always mean easy. It takes hard work and grit to follow this path. There also isn’t any guarantee of it working in the short run.
But slowly, day by day, bit by bit, you can navigate your career closer and closer to the center of that four-sided venn diagram.
And as you start tasting the fruit of Ikigai, you begin developing an intuition for what it means to live a good life.
Your life becomes easier. Your workday seems brighter. Your evenings are more restful, and you feel fulfilled. No matter what you do, if you’re doing it in your Ikigai, you’re doing it right.
The world, for a brief moment, seems at peace. It becomes obvious that you CAN have your cake and eat it, too.
But the crossroad remains.
However, there’s a problem with Ikigai.
You can’t just stop doing it. Because that’s just painful.
And as you grow and mature, of course your tastes will change. And as they change you’ll find that your Ikigai will shift.
Ikigai, it seems, is a moving target.
You can no longer settle for a boring job where the pay is good, but the work is dull. You’ll refuse it. You can’t just settle for some semblance of work-life balance where you work to eat and you eat to work. You’ll feel suffocated, and will immediately start hunting for a way out.
And the crossroad is now the path itself.
And so, you see, the crossroads never went anywhere. It stayed.
Except now the paths are on the one hand, to follow your Ikigai.
And on the other, to settle for mediocrity.
You can begin your journey to Ikigai right where you are now. There is no need to make large, drastic moves. Iteration is everything when it comes to Ikigai. Start by making very small, reversible changes that move towards Ikigai.
For example, if you aren’t happy at your job, don’t just quit. Instead, start looking for ways to change your workplace situation. If you’re happy at your job, but feel unfulfilled, look for ways to do more meaningful work at your current employer. If you want to leave, consider finding another job in the same industry instead of making a big jump immediately.
Slowly work your way up to your Ikigai.
I wish you the best in your journey, wherever it may take you.
