Finding Your IKIGAI
Having interviewed many senior professionals have tried to analyse how career planning was done. Most of the time have seen that selection is made based on either their family choices, or a career of the future or potential to earn. Well let me tell you some of my decisions were based on the same . However with time , experience , exposure and wisdom from my multiple interactions it has made me realise what is best and what are we here for .
1) What is that you enjoy or love doing?
2) What is that your are good at ?
3) What is that people will pay you for ?
4) What is that the world needs ?
This is basically an intersection of Passion , Mission , Profession and Vocation and once all these meet it is said you have met your Ikigai .
To discover your Ikigai , you must find what you're most passionate about . Then you find the medium through which you can express that passion . Ikigai is about finding Joy , fulfilment and balance in the daily routine of life . It's all too easy to fall victim to silo thinking that our job , family , passion , and desires are all separate and unrelated aspects of our life .The fundamental truth of Ikigai is that nothing is siloed . Everything is connected . It is possible to be true to your passions , live a life of consequence and still use business as a medium of expression . At the intersection of all of this are feelings of peace and lasting happiness that can sustain us throughout our entire lives .
What you deeply care about can unlock your ikigai
Follow your curiosity.
Philosopher and civil rights leader Howard W Thurman said, “Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.” … “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
The problem for millions of people is that they stop being curious about new experiences as they assume responsibilities and build routines. Their sense of wonder starts to escape them.But you can change that, especially if you are still looking for meaning and fulfilment in what you do daily.
Albert Einstein encourages us to pursue our curiosities. He once said:
“Don’t think about why you question, simply don’t stop questioning. Don’t worry about what you can’t answer, and don’t try to explain what you can’t know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind — to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.”
A classic example is Steve Jobs’ curiosity for typefaces which led him to attend a seemingly useless class on typography and to develop his design sensibility.Later, this sensibility became an essential part of Apple computers and Apple’s core differentiator in the market.
We are born curious. Our insatiable drive to learn, invent, explore, and study deserves to have the same status as every other drive in our lives.
Fulfilment is fast becoming the main priority for most of us. Millions of people still struggle to find what they are meant to do. What excites them. What makes them lose the sense of time. What brings out the best in them.
“Our intuition and curiosity are very powerful internal compasses to help us connect with our Ikigai,”
Find your Ikigai and it's never too late in life for the same .