What is Ikigai?

Ikigai, an ancient Japanese philosophy that has enveloped the way people live, is becoming a popular means of discovering meaning in one’s career - and in life.

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that translates into the reason you get up every morning, or the reason for being. ‘Iki’ in Japanese means ‘life,’ and ‘gai’ describes value or worth.

Your ikigai is your life purpose.

The Westernised version of ikigai says you’ve found your dream career when your career includes these four qualities:

• What you love

• What you’re good at

• What you can be paid for

• What the world needs

Why is Ikigai important?

In Japan, the average life expectancy for women is 88.09 years, and for men 81.91 years. Ranked second in the world for this particularly high life expectancy, many Japanese believe that ikigai has much to do with their longevity. Being able to live a happy and fulfilled life is what they believe is their secret to long life.

Knowing your ikigai is important as it helps you to create meaning out of the daily work you do, deriving purpose from the activities you choose to engage in, and as a result, enjoying the process. You become aligned with the work you long to do, and what the world needs you to do.

Now, let us break down the 4 different components of Ikigai.

What You Love

This category involves doing what sparks the most joy in your life and makes you feel the most alive and fulfilled. Doing what you love requires you to tap into your deepest desires to figure out the feelings associated with the activities you do. Which bring you the most satisfaction? These activities may be hobbies such as sketching, painting, long hikes, reading novels, writing poetry, cooking, spending time with loved ones, etc.

What is important is that we allow ourselves to think about what it is we do that brings the most happiness to our daily life, without any concern for whether we are good at it, whether the world needs it, or if we can get paid for doing it.

What You Are Good At

This section includes the actions or activities that you are particularly proficient at. These can include hobbies that you’ve picked up and honed from a young age, curricular that you are professionally trained in, or technical capabilities that you are known for. What you are good at can include your passions or your professions, talents or capabilities. This disregards whether or not you are passionate about them, whether the world needs them, or if you can get paid for them.

The World Needs It

This component of ikigai essentially involves what the bigger community beyond you needs. While this can involve global needs on a large scale, it can also be reframed as offering what your immediate community needs. This can include better access to electricity, education, clean water, hospital care, or a higher standard of teaching infrastructure to improve the standard of education.

This domain of ikigai requires going beyond one’s comforts and needs to think most explicitly with other people and doing good for them. It encapsulates how we can help the world become a better place, leaving this world in a better place than when we entered it.

You Are Paid For It

Lastly, this section includes the monetary funds we bring home at the end of each day. It outlines the work you do that others value and are willing to pay you for. What you get paid for may not necessarily encompass what the world needs, what you are good at or what you love to do, but it gives you the financial abilities to go about with daily life.

Putting It Altogether

A “sweet spot” within this ikigai diagram would therefore involve something you are passionate about, that you are also good at, that the world needs now, and for which someone will pay you.

The search for one’s ikigai is an ever-evolving process and it can shift with time, as you get become acquainted with the vast amount of experiences and ideas the world has to offer. One thing that remains constant through all of this, is that finding your ikigai means finding your reason for waking up each morning. You may already be practising your ikigai, whether consciously or not. What the guarantee is that, finding this motivating purpose in life will help you to achieve greater fulfilment and happiness.