Can Japanese Ikigai Transform the Meaning of Your Work?
Why do you go to work? And when was the last time you bothered to ask yourself that question?
For many people, work becomes an immutable habit, like grocery shopping or filling the gas tank. Eventually, you don’t question why you do it. Nor do you even think about whether there might be an alternative. You simply accept what comes to seem like an inevitability.
That’s because work, for most people, is a basic fact of life. But that doesn’t mean that treating it like another mindless chore is the best approach to what you spend a significant — maybe even the majority — of your waking hours doing.
In fact, more and more people are turning to other ways of understanding the meaning of work, including considering the powerful Japanese concept of Ikigai.
It’s not unlikely that you’re familiar with some form of the Ikigai concept already. Essentially, it translates as “reason for being,” and it describes the basic factors that make life worth living. In other words, what’s the value of being alive and how will you approach the allocation of that value.
The concept of Ikigai gives specific guidelines for determining the right path, by asking to consider the calling that lies at the intersection of answers to a few important questions: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for.
If you look at a Venn diagram rendering of this approach, each intersecting subsection also has its own significance.
So how can you apply Ikigai to your own work life? A few things to get you started:
Clarity is step one
Don’t underestimate the value of the simple approach. Take the four questions and write them down, then go sit in a quiet area without access to internet or your phone. Think deeply about each of these sections and take a moment to reflect on some of the initial reasons you were drawn to the field you’re working in. That will be important for the next step.
Go back to the beginning
By remembering your reasons for entering your field in the first place, you’ll be able to reassess your motivations through the lens of the Ikigai approach and, in many cases, rekindle the passion that motivated you to begin with.
Of course there will be a small number of people who only entered their line of work for the money. If that’s your case, it’s a good time to think about the skills that you’ve developed and whether they can be applied in another setting more in line with the things you love or the things that the world needs.
Re-evaluate the work
It might be the case that you already love your work but it still isn’t fulfilling. Many people have exciting projects but feel frustrated that their work isn’t contributing to something bigger.
No matter what kind of company you find yourself in, though, you can be sure there are ways that the company can improve its practices to make it more beneficial to the world beyond the profit margin. Taking the lead on a sustainability overhaul, or rethinking ethical data practices can be ways to tap into the multi-faceted concept of Ikigai without necessarily turning your life upside down.
Because the most significant changes are the ones that affect our mindsets.
