WELLNESS

UNLOCK LIFE SATISFACTION

Written by: Luke McLean @holisticgrowth

I came across Ikigai a while back and since then it has followed me thankfully. The Japanese belief is that if people find their Ikigai (Reason for being) they will unlock life satisfaction and fulfilment; in modern life, Ikagai seems more of a fairy tale than reality.

With a focus on climate change, mental health and our need to change how we do business; perhaps Ikigai is just what we need?

Jim Collins a successful leadership coach talks about having people in the right seats on the right bus; this means making sure people are in the right roles; getting people in the right seats can unlock performance and productivity.

Ikigai is getting people in the right seat on your bus of life.

Below are some reflective exercises to get a little clearer on what your Ikigai might be.

Your Ikigai may not be within reach right now, however, planting the seeds to begin is a powerful exercise.

Simply get an A3 piece of paper and draw the four Ikigai circles, leaving space to write thoughts and ideas in each.

What do you love? I mean what do you love? Use the passion and mission parts of the circle to dump ideas. Think about people, stories, ideas, companies that have spoken to you.

What are you good at? What are your known strengths, and what are the gifts and strengths that may be less obvious? Spend a good amount of time looking at what you're good at from a place of what you love, your passion and mission.

What does the world need? From your values, mission and love; what does the world need? Could it be a vocation? Who is doing something the same or similar and making it work? What can make this financial for you? What are the career opportunities based on your love, strength and what the world needs?

This final exercise brings all the other ideas together to identify what is possible.