Tag: ikigai

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Turning your passion into purpose

You know what you’re passionate about, but how do you translate that into something meaningful you can do every day? You may have figured that out already, or have no idea where to start. Wherever you’re at, this week’s blog helps us do just that and continues our journey to find our Ikigai, or reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

Last week we looked at what we love and what we are good at. The purpose of this was to find or rediscover our passions. You may have realised one passion or multiple ones. This is the first step in finding your Ikigai and knowing your purpose in life. This week we are looking at the next step – exploring what the world needs and what we can get paid for – to help us live each day with more meaning and fulfilment.

How can Ikigai benefit my wellbeing?

Why are we even looking at Ikigai and our purpose in life? Well, Ikigai has been linked with a range of benefits for our wellbeing, including:

  1. Living longer. People with Ikigai have a reduced risk of developing health problems and are more likely to live longer. Residents of Okinawa, Japan, have the highest life expectancy in the world. What do they have in common? Ikigai.
  2. Life satisfaction. Both men and women with Ikigai have been shown to be more satisfied with life and experience fewer symptoms of depression.
  3. A sense of accomplishment and fulfilment. Ikigai is linked with feeling fulfilled and like we have accomplished something. This sense of achievement in turn, further promotes wellbeing.
Image by Forbes

What the world needs and what I can get paid for

When we think about what the world needs, we could come up with a whole host of things – reducing plastic use, equality for all, less crime, more community engagement, better health…the list goes on. This can feel a bit overwhelming and hard for just one of us to address.

For this stage of Ikigai, think about what the world needs in relation to your passion. For example:

  • If you care about the environment and are good at organising events, could you apply your passion to organising group litter picking or cleaning up community events?
  • If you love getting fit and are good at helping others, could you encourage others to do the same to help tackle obesity?
  • If you really care about mental health and are good at writing, could you start a blog to improve others’ wellbeing? (This is how 15 minute wellbeing came about!)

We often think of what the world needs as huge solutions to huge problems. However, it is difficult for one person to have all the answers. However, just one person can make a massive difference by focusing on just one aspect of what the world needs. This is where the ‘what can I get paid for?’ question comes into play.

Using the above example of loving getting fit and being good at helping others, there is no job titled (as far as I’m aware) ‘Obesity Tackler’. However, you could get paid for working as one of the below (among others):

  • Personal trainer
  • Gym manager
  • PE teacher
  • Sports coach

This week’s activity

To help figure out what the world needs and what you can get paid for, try answering the questions below. For all the questions in this week’s activity, you can give more than one answer, so don’t worry if you don’t find your Ikigai straight away – this is completely normal. Spending 15 minutes on these questions can get you in the Ikigai mind set so don’t rush and answer everything honestly.

What does the world need?

  • What are the things my friends and family struggle with in their day-to-day lives?
  • What could be done to benefit my local community?
  • What issues are commonly featured in the news?

What can I get paid for?

  • What roles exist that relate to what I want to achieve?
  • What project(s) could I work on alongside my main source of income? This is known as a ‘side hustle’

All the questions are included on this week’s worksheet, so you have somewhere to record your answers. Click the link below to download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.

ikigai-part-2-worksheetDownload

If you enjoyed discovering your Ikigai, or feel that finding your Ikigai has helped improve your wellbeing, please do get in contact and share your story.

I share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to keep up to date.

Featured

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Image from Everyday Power

Stuck in a rut? Not sure where your life is heading? Feel like you’re going through the motions?

We all go through lulls from time to time, but feeling like we don’t have a purpose can be detrimental to our wellbeing. Those of us without a sense of purpose are more likely to be depressed and have a shorter lifespan than those with more meaning in their lives. Having a sense of purpose and some control over our lives are key to wellbeing.

This week’s post is all about helping us find or re-discover our sense of purpose. This may seem a bit daunting, but by answering a few key questions and reflecting on what we are passionate about, our purpose will become clearer.

What has purpose got to do with wellbeing?

Feeling purposeful has many benefits for our wellbeing. Firstly, it helps us recover from negative and stressful life events. Even when controlling for other factors such as age, gender and subjective wellbeing, higher levels of purpose in life were linked with better recovery from a negative event.

Secondly, purpose in life is linked with increased exercise and other health-promoting behaviours. When given a meaningful task to do over a period of time, those who engaged with the task – those who introduced a purpose into their lives – demonstrated improved stamina and flexibility.

Thirdly, people with a sense of purpose feel better about how they look and are more satisfied with their lives.

So how can we find our sense of purpose and improve our wellbeing?

Ikigai (‘ee-key-guy’)

The Japanese have a concept called Ikigai, which essentially asks, ‘what gets you out of bed in the morning?’ Ikigai relates to the happiness of doing activities involving mental or physical effort to achieve a purpose or result. That purpose could be anything from improving the environment to creating art or helping others. We all have own purpose, we just need to find it.

There are four key questions to answer to help find your Ikigai:

  • What do I love?
  • What am I good at?
  • What does the world need?
  • What can I get paid for?

Answering these questions is like following a treasure map to help you find out wonderful things about yourself, that you can share with the world and others will thank you for it.

Image from Forbes

What do I love and what am I good at?

Identifying the passion and talents we have can give meaning to our lives. The two elements of Ikigai we’re looking at this week are what we love and what we are good at. We can find our Ikigai where these cross over. As this is 15 minute wellbeing, we will just focus on these two questions this week, and what the world needs and what we can get paid for in next week’s post.

To help you figure out what you love, answering the following questions may give you some ideas. For all the questions in this week’s activity, you can give more than one answer, so don’t feel pressured to find one clear purpose straight away. It can take time to find your Ikigai so don’t rush and answer everything honestly.

What do I love?

  • What activities give me a sense of excitement?
  • If money was no object, what would I spend my time doing?
  • What did I love to do as a child?

What am I good at?

  • What are the things I do that often get a positive response?
  • What do people compliment me on or praise me for?
  • What subjects did I do best in at school?

All the questions are included on this week’s worksheet, so you have somewhere to record your answers. Click the link below to download the worksheet. You can fill it in using the ‘fill and sign’ tool or alternatively print it off and fill it in by hand.

ikigai-pt1

If you enjoyed the first step in discovering your Ikigai, or feel that finding your Ikigai has helped improve your wellbeing, please do get in contact and share your story.

I share wellbeing-related research, news and stories on twitter and Instagram in between weekly blog posts so do follow @15minwellbeing on both platforms to keep up to date.