Ikigai (ee-kee-guy) is a combination of the Japanese words ‘iki’ (to live) and ‘gai’ (reason) literally meaning ‘reason to live’. What constitutes a fulfilling life for you? What is your personal philosophy of life? Pleasure? Purpose? Prosperity? Passion? Or some mixture there of?
Ikigai is usually presented as the intersection of:
- What you love/enjoy
- What you are good at, where your strengths lie
- What would make the world a better place, what the world needs
- What you can earn a living doing
The center of where those four overlap is your sweet spot. Your individual ikigai is always an ongoing pathway, never a terminal stopping point. As you grow and evolve, so too will your ikigai. With the passing of the decades, my personal mission has mellowed, much more what makes the world a better place, contributing and creating, doing what I enjoy and what brings me a sense of peace and accomplishment and much less earning a living.
Ikigai is about far more than work or being productive and at the same time, so many of our waking hours are at work, it behooves us to find work that we enjoy, that has meaning to us and in the company of people that lift our spirits. As Steve Jobs said, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.”
Ikigai is the driving force of your life, especially when you are beyond the base survival level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Ikigai becomes the reason you get up every morning and if you get it right, it becomes the reason you JUMP out of bed every morning, full of vim and vigor, energy, enthusiasm and excitement, eager for yet another day of living to your fullest.
Closing Quotes
“The harder I work the more I live.” – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, playwright
“The best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Teddy Roosevelt, 1858-1919, 26th President
“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” – James M. Barrie, 1860-1937, creator of Peter Pan
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
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