Your Anchor in a Storm
Among the reasons people come to me for coaching is to gain clarity before making a high-stakes decision.
Some need to figure out their next career move, when to leave a job, the best time to retire or whether and how to start a consulting practice.
I don’t provide answers. I ask questions about what matters most to them so they can go within and find the answers they seek.
I sometimes suggest clients take a look at a tool called the “Ikigai”.
The Japanese word “ikigai” is a combination of the word “iki” – to live—and “gai” to reason, meaning “reason to live.” The four elements of the ikigai are a way to organize thoughts and feelings as we seek to articulate our life purpose. The tool was popularized in the West during the last decade and exploded during the pandemic, when I came across it.
Like so many others, several friends and I began to examine our priorities and values after the shock of the lockdown and the ensuing disruption in how we lived and worked. It became a useful guide to explore my inchoate desire for change. At the time, I wasn't sure how to go about defining what I was missing, what I wanted and where to head. I found a great deal of clarity using its four-part framework.
Exploring our Ikigai involves taking quiet time to reflect on four questions:
What do I love? (your passion)
What am I good at? (your vocation)
What does the world need? (your mission)
What can I get paid for? (your profession)
When we have answers to these questions -- and visualize in the Venn diagram how each answer relates to the others -- it makes sense as a picture of our purpose. It becomes an anchor to hold onto when we find ourselves in turmoil, discomfort and uncertainty.
Being clear on our purpose is especially useful when we have a big decision to make professionally or personally. After different kinds of upheavals, It's been a powerful North Star that helps me right myself and get back to the path I care most about.
Have you used the Ikigai to articulate your life purpose? In what ways has it helped?