Have you heard about IKIGAI before?
IKIGAI is Japanese and translates into “reason for being”. The concept comes from the island of Okinawa in Japan and it is said that because people in Okinawa have found their IKIGAI they seem to live longer. So how can we find our own IKIGAI?
To find your IKIGAI you need to bring together four aspects of your life, just like in the picture below:
Within our CareerBee Platform we offer a complete course with detailed steps on how to work out each of these elements but to not make this article too long, we wanted to share one question for each area you can ask yourself.
What you love
For this part it is important to look at aspects like your personality traits, your personal qualities, your goals and also your values.
One short exercise you can do here is trying to answer this question: “What activities in my personal and professional life make time just fly away (in a positive way)?”
What you are good at
Here you will need to analyze things like your strengths, skills and competencies.
One good question you can ask yourself is “With what question do many people come up to me?”. The answer to that questions will be a strength that people see in you.
What the world needs
It is always important to feel we are needed and we are contributing to something. No matter what is important to us, we should always find a way to add value in that area.
The question here can be: “What issues in your surroundings/community/work/ the world touch you emotionally?”
What you can be paid for
We all need to make a living. That is why IKIGAI also focuses on this aspect of our lives. Your IKIGAI should allow you to cover all your needs and create a lifestyle you find suitable for yourself.
That is why you should also ask yourself: “What lifestyle do I need to have and what type of job(s) can support me in my lifestyle?”.
Remember that the IKIGAI is composed of all of those aspects, so no one is more important than the others. You need to find the balance between all of them and constantly reflect yourself within each of the aspects.
We hope these questions serve as a first impulse to keep on exploring your IKIGAI.
If you want to make a deep dive, always feel free to reach out to us. We love to support you! Contact us at [email protected]
