Becoming Your Own Version Of Unique

If you are active on social media, you have surely come across Ikigai, a Japanese word meaning “a meaning/reason for living”. Ikigai is defined as the combination of four important factors - what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. If you look at these, you will immediately realise that this combination is what makes you a unique individual. No other person will have the same combination of these 4 factors as you. Out of these, the most important one is realising what you are good at. This will then put you on the path to success and fulfilling your goals. In a nutshell, discovering your uniqueness helps you identify your strengths, and desires and helps you figure out how to best use your strengths to achieve what you desire.

Now, this may sound great as an individual, but how does an organisation apply this principle? The simple fact is that an organisation is nothing but a group of people working towards realising a shared vision. If the people are aware of their own goals and how they can achieve those, it becomes easier to align individual goals with the shared mission and make it a reality. This also allows the organisation to enable employees to make full use of their potential and provides vital benefits like improved productivity, better decision-making, and enhanced team spirit.?

This is especially important for the women employees as their participation in the overall organised workforce has been lacking in India. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2021 mentions that India ranks 140th out of 156 countries in terms of women's economic participation. This is a fall of 28 positions as compared to the previous issue of this report. Furthermore, women hold only 29.2% of the technical roles and 14.6% of senior roles overall.

So, what are the exact benefits of discovering one’s uniqueness?

Some of these are:

• Better self-awareness: Discovering your uniqueness makes you more aware of your strengths, weaknesses, values, and personality traits. This helps you make better decisions and face life’s challenges more effectively.
• Improved self-esteem: Self-awareness helps you to value yourself more. You understand the unique mix of qualities that you bring to the world, thus boosting your self-esteem and confidence.
• Greater sense of purpose: Knowing your uniqueness can give you a sense of purpose. This typically comes from knowing your talents or passions that you want to pursue. This pursuit then gives your life direction and meaning.
• Better interpersonal relationships: Understanding your uniqueness can also help you build better relationships by helping you communicate more effectively with others, setting appropriate boundaries, and attracting people who respect you for who you are.

As an employee, this makes you more productive, improves your job satisfaction, and makes you a better team player who is a valuable asset to your organisation.

This is where our “Being Unique” workshop comes into play in your journey of discovering your uniqueness and becoming a better individual. The 4 modules of the workshop put you on the path to self-discovery and improvement.

• Module 1: Embrace Yourself
• Module 2: Embrace the change
• Module 3: Embrace our differences
• Module 4: Embrace your future

Some of the benefits that we have seen in previous attendees of this workshop in the past are:

1. Increased self-awareness
2. Greater resilience in face of life’s challenges
3. Ability to build stronger interpersonal relationships
4. Increased self-confidence
5. Embracing of one’s uniqueness as a person

In a nutshell, this workshop helps your employees unlock their “hidden self” and starts the process of becoming a “new self” in sync with what and how they truly want to be. So, it is time to begin the journey with your women employees, isn’t it?