Find Your Ikigai to Reduce Overwhelm and Increase Happiness
Can this Japanese concept be the secret to a long, meaningful, and happy life?
If you’re unsure about your life purpose, use the Japanese concept of Ikigai to find clarity.
1. What Is Ikigai?
More than anything, Ikigai (pronounced “eye-ka-guy”) is a Japanese concept that can be translated to “your personal reason for living”, your purpose in life, or what motivates you to get up in the morning.
There are four interwoven questions you must answer to understand your Ikigai: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
Combining mindful reflection with practical execution, Ikigai is a personal roadmap for life, helping us lead more intentional and fulfilling lives.
2. How Can Ikigai Transform Your Life?
As a multi-passionate edupreneur, multipotentialite, creator, mom, partner, friend, and global citizen, I often try to balance ALL THE THINGS.
Finding focus and peace of mind can be challenging. Our brains are just so busy! Ikigai’s framework has helped me understand my life goals, make better choices about how I use my time, energy, resources, and space, and, most importantly, helped me answer WHY I make the choices I do.
By choosing a portfolio lifestyle and incorporating numerous jobs, careers, passions, and personas - often simultaneously - I have often felt at odds with what society expects (choose one career, stay in your lane, etc.) of me.
When I’m in flow with my Ikigai, I feel a sense of harmony, acceptance, and appreciation for how I’ve chosen to live, work, create, and connect. If Ikigai is the reason to get out of bed every morning”, I know that when I embrace it, I feel connected, purposeful, and fulfilled.
When I dismiss it and lose sight of my “north star”, I feel cluttered, distracted, and ultimately, disappointed in myself.
Rather than struggle internally with myself, or externally against societal expectations, I try to embrace my Ikigai to feel more empowered in life.
How would it feel to know and embrace your Ikigai every morning when you get out of bed?
3. How To Discover Your Ikigai?
To figure out your personal reason for living or purpose through Ikigai, you’ll need to respond to these four prompts:
Your passion - what you love to do in life
Your mission - what the world needs that you can offer
Your vocation - what you are good at
Your profession - what you can do and get paid for
Your Ikigai lies at the intersection of these four elements. This is your sweet spot where the world, and your place in it, can make more sense.
Sounds simple, but having taught Ikigai to many, finding your purpose in life takes time, reflection, and trust over an evolving lifetime.
After searching, doing, and questioning, I know my passion is helping ambitious go-getters (myself included) bring more creative ideas, projects, and passions to life by optimizing time, energy, and space. The world needs us to reach our highest potential and thrive. Skills that I possess include inspiring, empowering, and facilitating transformations for individuals. Currently, my profession is teaching, coaching, writing, and speaking @ JessicaTudos.com.
What’s your Ikigai? Whether you’re an entrepreneur, student, creator, educator, or anyone with a desire to find their reason for living, Ikigai is a dynamic tool that can truly help you to clarify your purpose.
Books, online tests, and life coaching can help you discover what your Ikigai is.
4. Why Bother Figuring Out Your Ikigai?
If the goal of understanding your Ikigai is to find more joy and satisfaction in daily life, who doesn’t want that?
At its core, Ikigai shows us that everything in our lives is connected and that nothing operates in a silo. When we determine our Ikigai, we can create lives that feel authentic, purposeful, and in sync.
After years of struggling to make sense of my seemingly disconnected life choices, I flounder less and flourish more when I embrace Ikigai.
Although there’s no magic bullet for figuring out your life’s purpose, Ikigai is a helpful tool to have in your “how to live life well” toolkit!
NEED HELP FIGURING OUT & IMPLEMENTING YOUR IKIGAI?
I’d love to support you. Send me an email or Book your free brainstorming session and let’s talk about your Ikigai.