Finding Your Ikigai: The Connection Between Personal and Professional Growth
- Samuele Covolo
- May 10, 2024
- 3 min read
"Ikigai Revealed: Aligning Passion and Profession for Ultimate Growth"
Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese concept that combines the terms iki, meaning “being alive”, and gai, meaning “worth”. Together, these terms indicate the
“purpose in life” or “something one lives for”.
The Japanese definition for ikigai is very powerful and does not include always what the world needs and/or what you can be paid for. Ikigai is a reason for living and could be literally anything for anyone. However, to discover more concretely what the ikigai could be for you, and to make this exercise more effective, discovering the ikigai can be achieved by finding the connection between your Passion, your Mission, your Vocation and your Profession.
My view on the IKIGAI
This powerful yet simple exercise helped me figure out what I would want to do as a profession, and led me to develop Vision Torch.
I hope that by doing this, you'll have a broader view on what it is that you can call "purpose in life".
Guide to figure out your IKIGAI.
Take up a pen and two pieces of paper.
In one paper, Draw the IKIGAI’s circles as showed ABOVE. (it’s ok to not have those circles drawn perfectly)
Set a timer for 5 minutes for each step. (Trust the timer, sometimes it might feel like too much, sometimes it feels like too few. Just set the timer and follow your instincts).
On the second paper, use the 5 minutes in the timer to answer the various steps, one at the time. Ultimately, you should write everything that goes in your mind and use the last bit of time to make a clear sentence that summarizes the step.
Finally, look at your answers and fill up the ikigai diagram in the first piece of paper. At the end, try to write up a sentence that includes all the previous steps. That might be your IKIGAI.
STEP 1: WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT
Think of your skills and strengths.
What are they?
What did people around you tell you that you’re good at?
SETP 2: WHAT YOU LOVE
What interests and/or hobbies do you have?
STEP 3: YOUR PASSION
look at STEP 1 and STEP 2 and find overlapping or connected areas, that allow you to identify your passion (skill + interest).
Try to come up with a sentence/word that summarizes your passion.
for example:
STEP 1: WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT:
— writing— editing documentaries— information gathering and summarising
STEP 2: WHAT YOU LOVE:
— writing— psychology
The example above shows writing as an overlapping skill between what you’re good at and what you love. You can also see the connection to the interest such as writing and psychology thus showing a passion for writing psychology related materials.
There is no definitive way to look at this but to find a comfortable click to your passion based on your own skills and interests.
STEP 4: WHAT DOES THE WORLD NEED?
Instead of focusing on a larger-than-life concept, focus on small changes that you can contribute to your local community or organisation. Visualise or describe what the world needs according to you.
STEP 5: YOUR MISSION
Look through your list in Step 2 and Step 4 to find a connective area, allowing you to give back to your local communities (interest + need).
STEP 6: WHAT YOU COULD BE PAID FOR
I get paid to...
What do you get paid for to do?
What can you do to earn money?
STEP 7: YOUR VOCATION
calling
Refer to Step 4 and Step 6 which can help you identify a vocation that allows you to learn and give back to society at the same time (need + get paid).
STEP 8: YOUR PROFESSION
profession
To identify your profession, look at skills you listed in Step 1 and how you can get paid in Step 6 (skill + get paid).
THE END
Once you’ve completed the steps above – combine Passion (STEP 3) + Mission (STEP 5) + Vocation (STEP 7) + Profession (STEP 8) and you’ll have a rough idea of what your ideal career might look like or be.
What are your thoughts on this exercise? Let me know in the comments below!
Ready to take a step with Vision Torch? Schedule a free intake session today!
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