Ikigai and finding purpose in the small things
Looking at your strengths, your work and your development in the context of your life
I think that asking an architect to choose their favourite framework is like asking them to pick their favourite food: it’s not impossible, but it does depend pretty heavily on context.
I’m not going to say that ikigai is my favourite framework of all time, but within the context of tools to help with framing up some of the bigger questions in life, it is pretty hard to beat! And as I write this, the calendar year is starting to wrap up, which usually means that people start to spend a bit of time reflecting on the year that was, and maybe looking to the new year with a few of those bigger questions in mind.
So, I thought I would share what I have learned about this famous Japanese purpose framework in the hope that it is of some use to others - particularly when thinking about your professional development.
4 questions to live and work by
There are books and articles aplenty written about ikigai but, to summarise, it is the concept of having a clear sense of purpose in your life and using that to guide your decisions. It focuses on four key questions:
What do you love doing?
What does the world need?
What are you good at?
What can you get paid for?
I really like this framing because it encourages taking a more holistic approach when asking big questions of yourself, or when staring into big questions about your career; it can be easy to get too locked in on one of those questions and neglect taking a wider view and considering the other dimensions. In addition to weighing up job opportunities, I have also found it personally useful when thinking about planning my professional development.
Seeking feedback on your strengths
When you look at the ikigai model, your profession is at the intersection of what you’re good at what you can get paid for. Professional development can be often simply be thought of as working on what you’re not good at, but I think that is a trap. If, like me, you gravitate to the ‘areas for improvement’ section of any 360 feedback that you receive, then you’re likely skipping over the opportunity to think about your strengths in a different and more purposeful manner.
I have recently tried to change the way I seek feedback on my strengths. Historically, if someone complimented me on something I was doing in a professional context, I would brush it away in self-deprecating fashion. I have slowly realised, though, that doing so is not actually being humble - rather it is passing on an opportunity to both show gratitude to someone who is taking time to give me feedback, and also the opportunity to learn from that feedback.
Of recent, when I have received compliments on a talk or presentation that I have given, I have been consciously focusing on thanking the person for their kind words, and then asking a follow-on question that might give me some additional insight. For example, “could you tell me what landed well with you from either my presentation style or the content itself?” Or “was there a particular part that was of more interest to you than other parts?” Or even “if I was giving this presentation again, what parts would you say I should really make sure I don’t leave out?”
Over the last couple of months of trying this, I have come away with some really interesting and useful perspectives, and ones that challenged my own perception of what was working in what I was talking about and what wasn’t. It has also helped me see different angles on where I can further improve my skills to better master them, and led to deeper understanding of the weaknesses I could work on or focus on compensating for - even without the person providing the feedback explicitly calling them out.
To link back to ikigai too, these brief interactions with colleagues and audience members are helping me widen my view on the “what the world needs” question. Because getting the feedback provider to go a bit deeper in terms of what was helping them the most helps me, in turn, to see the need that I was meeting. Chances are that if one person has that need, others in the world probably will have that need too.
Professional development with purpose
It is always a good idea and laudable goal to strive to do whatever work we are doing as best we possibly can, right? I mean, aiming for professional competence in all things and really leveraging all of our respective talents and intelligence to the task at hand is a great way to go about our work.
However, it can also be very fruitful to think about what is our intention in doing our work, asking: why am I doing this? Obviously I don’t just mean asking that at a surface level, or the answer will always be some variation on “because it is my job!”
This is where the ikigai framework can help again. Even the mundane tasks that are a feature of pretty much every job can be connected to our purpose if we widen our perspective. Sure, I might be writing a report because that’s what I’m getting paid to do. But maybe the task itself is something that allows me to practice patience, or perseverance, or self-sacrifice…traits which the world needs more of in general? Maybe I don’t love writing reports, but I do love writing in general…and this task gives me opportunity to hone that skill further? Maybe the numbers and data crunching needed for the report are not something I’m naturally good at, but I am good at building networks…and this task gives me an opportunity to expand the list of people I know in the finance team by asking for help?
This is a simple example, but one that hopefully serves to show that we do have some say in connecting the work we do to our own understanding of purpose even if the job itself isn’t obviously linked to our purpose at first glance. (That, and also to serve as a reminder to me that I need to get on with submitting a report I’ve been drafting for a while now!)
‘Tis the season
If, like many of us in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re planning to spend the some of your Christmas/holiday break on a beach somewhere, pondering questions about what’s next for you, I suggest keeping the four questions of ikigai in your mind. You might find that helps you widen your field of view in your own search for living your purpose. And when you start back at work, perhaps take another look at your development plan and your calendar through the lenses of ikigai and see if that helps with figuring out where to place your time and efforts for maximum return in 2024 and beyond.
this seems rather ethically neutral. a prostitute could answer all four of the questions positively with the answer sex. but is it good? perhaps that is a shortcoming of the framework.