Effective at Ikigai

Greetings from Tokyo! I’ve been in this beautiful city all week, and it’s been amazing. My wife and I decided to seize the moment, and "stop waiting for the kids to be older". You might spot us tomorrow at Tokyo Station, likely carrying a stroller down a flight of stairs but with a smile on our faces.

With another week ahead in Japan, I will dedicate my next couple of posts to Japanese concepts that I’ve admired. Expect insights beyond the superficial, together with actionable steps.

Ikigai: Misconceptions and Reality

What Westerners misunderstand about Ikigai. In the Western hemisphere, Ikigai has often been shown as a formulaic path to uncovering one's purpose in life. Many mistakenly associate the concept with a popular Venn diagram developed by astrologer Andres Zuzunaga in 2011. Then popularized by blogger Marc Winn when he substituted "purpose" for "Ikigai." This diagram suggests that "Ikigai" involves finding the intersection of what one loves, what the world needs, what one excels at, and what one can be paid for. However, this Western interpretation is radically different to the authentic Japanese understanding of Ikigai (read the full story here).

The true essence of Ikigai for the Japanese. Contrary to the Venn diagram's teachings, Ikigai centers around a profound sense of purpose and joy in life. Part of Japanese culture, since the Heian period (794-1185 AD), Ikigai revolves around finding pleasure from our everyday rituals, fostering connections with others, and savoring life's simple joys. It embodies living authentically and finding delight in the present moment, or as the Ikigai book puts it: "the happiness of always being busy, yet never rushed."

Simplifying Ikigai. While the Venn diagram may be "Instagrammable," it sets an exceptionally high bar for all of us. Is it realistic to expect that we can discover something we love, excel at, aligns with societal needs, AND is financially compensated? Instead, let's embrace Ikigai as a guiding philosophy that encourages us to find joy in life's small moments. In aggregate, we can indeed pursue things that we love, what we excel at, what the world needs, and earn a living wage in the process… but does this all need to be accomplished solely by our profession?

Beware of mixing business (job) and pleasure (vocation). Reflecting on this concept, I recall Sean Johnson's framework, which defines a job as what one is paid for, and a vocation as what brings the greatest joy. This differs from the Ikigai Venn diagram's interpretation of vocation (what the world needs and you can get paid to do). Sean states that transforming a vocation into a job may diminish its intrinsic joy (e.g. the contrast between cooking for loved ones vs. managing a restaurant). This concept echoes sentiments from "The Good Enough Job" that cautions us to "beware of dream jobs," as many passion-driven professions (think teacher, zoo keeper, librarian, etc.) often are overworked and underpaid. Let's remember that even Nikola Jokic acknowledges that playing in the NBA is his job, not his vocation.

How can you leverage this newly acquired knowledge?

1. Take the Ikigai 9 survey: A short 9-question questionnaire to determine your level of Ikigai, developed by Japanese scholars.

2. Discover what brings you joy: Explore avenues such as seeking guidance from a coach or maintaining a journal to discover your recurring sources of happiness. (I have tried both, they work!)

3. Amplify joy in your life: During your Weekly Review, plan how to allocate more time to these joy-inducing activities, or explore ways to enhance your engagement with them.

4. Establish boundaries: If your sources of joy differ from your profession, set clear boundaries. Research from the Mayo Clinic suggests that dedicating a significant portion of time to activities you love can mitigate burnout; however, anything beyond 20% has a marginal impact.

Anecdotally, I noticed how much I enjoyed developing others and set a small portion of my week to work on it, coincidentally topping at around 20%. I managed to do this in addition to my job by following the steps in this article I wrote a few months ago. Hope it helps!

Arigato gozaimasu,

Jorge Luis Pando

"My career journey really can be described as "from geeky guy to ikigai.”" - Rich Hua, Founder of EQ at Amazon

PS: To be honest, I have personally been very tempted for a long time to make my vocation be my job. It isn’t an easy decision, but hey, it is a two-way-door decision, right?