IKIGAI
According to the Japanese, a happy life is a meaningful and purposeful one, and the key leads to that is IKIGAI.
IKIGAI is a lifestyle, a concept that has been rooted in the Japanese culture for centuries and it stands for “the reason to live”. Perhaps, there’s no need to explain how important it is to have a purpose in life, to always maintain happiness and motivation, to find balance and guidance, for we ourselves have been aware of the opposite conditions, in which we feel out of motivation, lonely or stressful.
In this article, we will explore the 4 pillars of a meaningful life, and how to achieve them.
1. Passion: Do what you love
Tell me what do you like? Do you enjoy shopping? Painting? Creating animation? Do you find taking care of animals always fun? Does data analysis bring up the excitement in you? The fact is that we are happy when spending time on the things we like. You might have heard this so many times, but it’s not unreasonable to consider that advice “Do what you love, love what you do”. Think about the most thing you care about, or the problem that pushes you, or a hobby you can do over and over and over again. Think about doing that as a job, wouldn’t it be great! A lot of people complain about their work, they are afraid of Monday, when they have to get to work and repeat the weekly activities. But why? We all have our passion, we all have the ability, there are always opportunities. If you wonder should or shouldn’t go for it, the answer should be yes. Although the road might be harder and longer, but the joy of doing what you love will always motivate you.
2. Profession: Do what you are good at
This I believe is the most fun part. When your passion is discovered, the next thing would be to practice it, constantly, train yourself to be better and better every day, not mention to be the best. Once you found the flame, you would always be motivated to improve yourself and the excitement in you will push you towards more innovative ways to improve it day by day. If you love marketing, or drawing, or researching why don’t make yourself the best in the market? Passion and Profession would make you outstanding among others.
3. Mission: Do what the world needs
Integrate your passion with the demands in the market. If you just focus only on following your passion and being good at it, you might still find yourself stuck in this world, like an alone shark. Let’s say you love listening to podcasts and you yourself can talk very well about the topics you care about, but those podcasts you made are not needed, necessary nor interesting enough. Then it is just your own hobby, isn’t it, plus it can’t help if you’re aiming at creating changes in the podcast sectors.
4. Vocation: Do what you can be paid for
This is real life, your dream only would not be enough to fulfill your physical needs. If you think you are pursuing your passion, which is important to this world, and in which you feel like your energy for doing it can never run out, why don’t you think of earning some money from that? If you like If you have an idea, make a plan to develop it. What if your idea would be the incredibly important one, what if you can create changes. Imagine how great it would be, to build your own life by pursuing your dream.