How To Find Your Ikigai

By Laura Perry, Copywriting & Editing Intern at Talent Academy

What is ikigai?

Ikigai is a Japanese concept referring to your reason for being. Finding your ikigai helps you find a career that will leave you feeling fulfilled and purposeful. So whether you’re getting into the workforce, thinking about a career change, or are curious to see whether you have already found your ikigai, read on and try out our exercise!

Grab some paper and a pen, and gather all of your creativity, because finding your ikigai will require some lateral thinking!

You are going to write out four lists; what you love, what you’re good at, what gets paid, and what the world needs.

What you love:

This can be anything! From dancing in your room to eating your favourite food, anything that makes you happy. These don’t need to be professional-orientated, or rooted in reality at all! It might help you to recall your childhood (around the ages 7-14) and what you loved doing then. Remember the street you lived on, the house you lived in, anything you can remember might help spark a memory of something you love doing!

What you’re good at:

These things don’t have to be the same as what you love. In fact, completely forget about your other list and just focus on what things you are really good at doing. You might find that these are more profession based, but anything that you think you are good at doing belongs on this list!

What gets paid:

Where do you see opportunity? What jobs are needed right now? You can get other people to help you with this list, see what jobs they think are in demand today.

What the world needs:

The items on this list don’t necessarily need to be jobs, but traits (for example, connection, transparency, equity etc.). Whatever you think the world needs more of is what you should put on this list.

Now it is time for you to step back and try to tie as many of these things you have written down together. You can do this by circling different things and thinking about how they might come together. This is where you will need to be a lateral thinker! Be creative and try to see things other people don’t see.

Try to create one profession that ties things you love, are good at, gets paid and the world needs together. Once you come up with this one profession, that is your ikigai. That is your reason for being.

If you pursue this profession, you will find that you will enjoy your job and will be excited each day to get up and go to work. This is because you are passionate about what you are doing. You will become filled with purpose, AND you’ll get paid for it.

What is your ikigai? Let us know in the comments below!

Interested in learning how to improve your public speaking skills and advance your career? We offer a variety of online courses that give you strategies to overcome speaking fear.