Ikigai: Have You Found Yours?

Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles, international bestselling authors of the book “IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” sum your Ikigai up to being your reason for getting out of bed in the morning, and the absence of the emptiness within when your feet touch the ground. Sounds nice, right?

Defining Ikigai

The Western world characterizes your Ikigai as the intersection between:

• What you Love
• What You Are Good At
• What You Can Be Paid For
• What the World Needs

But per the Ikigai Tribe, your Ikigai isn’t a perfect career or accomplishment. It isn’t your single assignment in life. It is not a destination. Rather, it is about WHO you want to become and your journey to self-actualization.

Can Your Ikigai Help You Live to 100?

To conduct their research, the authors of the book traveled to Okinawa, Japan to speak with some of the longest living individuals on the planet. Okinawa is considered a “Blue Zone”, which is an area with a high concentration of individuals 100+ years of age, also known as centenarians.

In their research it was determined that having an Ikigai was contributing to the longevity of the elders on the island.

It seems having an Ikigai is about as important as exercising and keeping a healthy diet.

If having an Ikigai can hold such weight in the longevity of centenarians, maybe we should all try to find ours too?

I mean, if we are generally empty, stressed, or feeling purposeless, this may be the secret to unlock the alternative for us.

Find Where You Flow

Sit back and think of all of the times where you were so focused on something that time passed so quickly and you forgot to eat. Or nearly missed an appointment. Or you simply ran out of time to work on anything else. It’s likely you were in some state of “flow” when those things happened.

For lots of Okinawans, gardening puts them into a state of flow. Other activities that do the trick for this Japanese population are Tai Chi and yoga.

For video game fanatics it might be playing Call of Duty. For crochet artists it might be working on a new set of socks.

If you’re unsure, make use of this advice from the authors of Ikigai:

Make a list of all of the activities where you find yourself in a state of flow – where time just flies by.

Next, identify all of the commonalities among those activities. Do they happen in the morning or at night? Are you working in a team or alone? Inside or outside? Are you talking to anyone or quiet the whole time?

I know for me, I tend to flow when I am working alone and trying to problem solve because I get so focused on trying to find a solution. Which answers why I program software integrations for a living.

Choose Something both Difficult and Easy

Still unsure? Try new things you think you might like, for example surfing or pottery. Garcia and Miralles suggest tasks that are challenging enough but not too challenging.

For instance, reading about astrophysics for many is too challenging. Personally – I’d check out immediately after reading the first few paragraphs. By the same token, reading a children’s book is too simple, and would frankly bore me. Keep that in mind when testing the waters.

You’ll want to seek out something challenging enough to keep you interested, but not too challenging that it stresses you out and you lose interest. For example, reading about human psychology is a nice in between. I am both interested in it and don’t know everything about it so I won’t be bored flipping through the pages.

Remember your Ikigiai is more about the journey than the destination, and the journey is intended to be a long one. So don’t rush it and take your time finding the right flow-worthy path for you.

Let me know in the comments about your Ikigai journey. Do you think you’ve discovered yours?