What is Ikigai?
Ikigai is an ancient Japanese technique for finding your reason for being, or your life’s purpose. It is formed from answering 4 key questions:
- What do I love?
- What am I good at?
- What does the world need from me?
- What can I be rewarded for?
Ikigai is the sweet spot that defines what you are good at and love, that the world values and for which it will reward you.
It is relatively easy to find what you love and are good at and perhaps for which you could also be paid for, but this may leave you feeling unvalued if the world doesn’t really need it.
If you are good at something, the world values receiving it from you and will pay you for it, it sounds great, but if you don’t love doing this, then you may be left feeling empty.
Perhaps you enjoy what you do, are paid for it and the world needs it but you aren’t very good at it? Then you may feel uneasy that you’ll be found out.
Many of us are doing what we love, the world takes it from us because it’s of value and we find we are good at it but have not yet found how to be rewarded from it, or monetise it, then we’ll be happy but poor.
By following the Ikigai technique it’s possible to find what we call the sweet spot, where loving what you do, being good at it, being rewarded from it and it adding value to your world, all collide in perfect harmony.
This is Ikigai and everyone who finds their Ikigai feels motivated, inspired, creative and passionate about every day, in both work and play. Their relationships improve, they align with those who will co-create a wonderful life journey of self-discovery, continuous learning and development, gratitude and providing valuable service to others.
