A Simple Formula for an Extraordinary Life

Toshimasa Sone and colleagues at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine conducted a seven-year study of 43,000+ Japanese adults. According to Psychology Today, "The researchers found that individuals who believed that their life was worth living were less likely to die than were their counterparts without this belief."

The Japanese word for this sense of purpose is?ikigai. It means believing that your life is worth living. Google the word, and you're likely to find an image that looks like this:

Here's how Psychology Today summarized the researchers' results. "95% of respondents who reported a sense of meaning in their lives were alive seven years after the initial survey versus about 83% of those who reported no sense of meaning in their lives."

In other words, people live longer when they feel their life has meaning.

Now imagine that you are one of those fortunate professionals who believe that your abilities are not fixed. That is, with effort, you can grow your abilities; you have a growth mindset.

If so, you have the opportunity to dramatically upgrade the amount of meaning in your life.

The first image captured the concept of ikigai, that your life is best when you operate at the intersection of these four elements. But many people have trouble doing that, because the overlap between all four is very small or even non-existent.

The pink area in my second image represents personal growth, which allows you to expand the intersection. For example, the broader and deeper your best skills, the more opportunities you will create.

In fact, you can apply personal growth to expand all four!

Expand your passions, through curiosity and experimentation.

Expand what others need by offering your talents in new ways (I did this by expanding from "ghostwriting" to "executive coaching", and by founding Bend Reality and Meditate for Peace.)

Expand what others will pay for by demonstrating the value you have delivered with your approach.

Growth isn't just a vague aspirational term. It can fundamentally alter the course of your life

Here's the deal. You can't control whether a volcano will erupt in your backyard, or whether your boss will suddenly decide to hire his nephew and fire you.

But you can control the amount of effort you invest in expanding your skills, growing your experience, and opening your mind. All of these are likely to deepen your appreciation of your life and the role you play in our world.

May you enjoy more ikigai with each passing year.

#ikigai #growthmindset

**

Please continue to forward this newsletter to everyone you know who wishes to do well by doing good. They can sign up here.

**

Visit Selflss to learn about my executive coaching practice. You can find more of my writings at Kasanoff.com.

I am the founder of Bend Reality and Meditate for Peace.