Not going to go too deep with this, but in a nutshell Ikigai aims to make your life the best that it can be. This is done by taking inventory of what you must do, what you prefer to do and what makes you happiest. This leads to improved balance and believed by many to contribute to long, happy & healthy life.
Why is this relevant… Well if you frustrated by constantly fixing broken things at work or brought to tears enduring a horribly broken process then you can see there is need for change. At one extreme you might love being the hero at work and fighting fires all the time at work – if so then that might be your mission. More power to you and you should find a way to do more of that.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to be on-call and prefer smooth operating processes then perhaps your mission is a bit different. If so, then you should find a way to do more to proactively eliminate those fires before they have a chance to start. This can manifest through process improvement and likely the preferred place to be for most people.
So, think it through and take some time to answer these high-level questions which apply to business as well as life:
- What do you love doing?
- What are you good at?
- What can you be paid for?
- What is it that the world needs more of?
The typical Ikigai is a 4-way Venn diagram where the dimensions above overlap to reveal some sub-categories. In the center of this diagram is the sweet spot where it is said that if you can operate in that zone then you are well balanced, happier, full of joy and energy and generally thrive.
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