Ikigai - a three-pronged practical strategy to find it

Before you start thinking through what that image means, let me clarify, it means ikigai which is a Japanese word which literally translates to - a reason for being.

When you are a kid and you grow up in India, one of the standard questions you will be asked by adults around you is - what do you want to become when you grow up? When kids face these kinds of questions, they assume that these grown-up adults have figured out what they want to be and probably they are already there. But nothing could be far from reality in most of the cases. Lot of adults are hiding their own missed opportunities and insecurities in that question.

This remains a pertinent question at every age. Having stated the problem, let me suggest a mental model to solve this specially for adults. This theory is sponsored by Susan Cain who wrote a Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. I am just distilling her thoughts not adding much from my side here.

So, first approach to go back to your childhood. This is the time when you are less impacted by your surroundings, and you usually say what aligns with your “true nature”. As you grow, social impacts keep chipping off or adding things to you which might not be originally yours. But what if you are one of those who thought as a kid to be in a profession which is not considered that respectable or practical by society. Try to dig a layer deeper and figure out what aspects of those professions made you love them. Just to give you an example, if you dreamt to be a traffic policeman (nothing wrong being that), the emotion behind that might be that you could stop rich and mighty with just one gesture. This second order analysis will give you a better understanding of yourself.

Now let us talk about the second approach. This involves reflecting back on your life and thinking what type of work you gravitate to. This is something which happens with all of us in our careers and life. You might be a programmer, but you might have enjoyed all teaching opportunities in your career. All of us have some such inclinations which happen naturally but we don’t notice them. Just reflect back on your life and think what they have been. This analysis might throw some wonderful surprises.

Third approach is built on a negative emotion but all of us have it whether we accept it or not. And that negative emotion is envy. All of us envy somebody in our life. Do you see a pattern in the people you envy. We are more likely to envy somebody who is probably doing something you wanted to do but you have not been able to do. We are not talking about suppressing envy here, we are just talking about analysing it within yourself. We can figure out positive use of a negative emotion in this way.

What is your approach to figure out your Ikigai. Drop me a message and happy to discuss over a cup coffee and Masala Dosa.

All the best for your journey to yourself.