MY HAPPY TRYBE

Not nearly as catchy a title as “Ikigai, the Japanese secret to long and happy life” 😅

But here’s the deal. Ikigai is widely misunderstood as the art of finding what job you should be passionately pursuing to make your life happy and worth living!

These are two different concepts – Ikigai and finding a profession you may love to pursue!

Let’s understand IKIGAI

The original Japanese concept of Ikigai comes from two words – Ikiru meaning ‘to live’ and Gai meaning ‘worth’. The term loosely translates the purpose that makes life worth living and it doesn’t really have anything to do with “what you can be paid for” 😏

In fact, to the Japanese people, Ikigai is not a special concept at all. It is as normal, as natural and as vital as breathing. Some believe it is the reason for long happy lives in Japan. No one cared to develop the idea till a book came out with the popular name.

In reality, Ikigai is a beautiful concept that reminds us to really put your heart and soul into the task of living everyday. Be present each moment, take in the beauty of the smallest of things around you – a flower, a child’s laughter, an ant carrying a heavy bread crumb home. There is so much to life.

Now the diagram

The ‘venn diagram of purpose’ or the Purpose diagram was an idea that came from many inspired individuals across the world. Some attributed to writing about it are Ask Ms Dorothy (describing the intersection as bliss state) and Anaïs Bock. Later Marc Winn, inspired by an ikigai TED talk by Dan Buettner combined the ‘purpose diagram’ with the Japanese concept of ikigai

The purpose diagram aims at finding an intersection between what you would love and enjoy doing and what the market may be willing to pay for. Essentially differentiating between a hobby and a job but also helping you find a job that you would enjoy pursuing.

Although I must say I still don’t agree with the use of the word ‘Purpose’ here, I do find that the Purpose diagram is an extremely useful tool. One that must be used and revisited at regular intervals by everyone. May be, call it “The job I would love to wake up for each day” or “a job I wouldn’t mind”?? Umm..maybe you can help me find the best term for it. But it is a useful tool nevertheless.

I will need a whole different post to talk about how I found my intersection. But I am leaving you with this diagram to get your thinking juices flowing…

I am tempted to sound very cool and sign off “Peace out yo!” 😁