The Exclusive Career Coach 243: What is Your Reason for Being? Ikigai for Your Career
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I came across this concept of Ikigai recently – the Japanese answer to a life of purpose. In practice, this concept of Ikigai is a lifestyle, which the Japanese live somewhat instinctively.
To quote the ikigailiving.com website, “Your Ikigai wakes you up in the morning and leads you away from a mundane, status-quo lifestyle. It empowers you and drives your actions and purpose.”
Ikigai is the intersection of:
-What I love
-What the world needs
-What I can be paid for
-What I am good at
Let’s drill down on this a bit further. I recommend journaling your answers to these questions if you are seeking your professional purpose…thinking about a significant career shift but you aren’t sure to what…looking for your Ikigai.
What I love
As you journal your responses to this prompt, I recommend avoiding the universal responses such as your significant other, family members, or children.
Here are five responses for me:
-Helping people navigate their careers
-Coaching
-Making presentations (including podcasting)
-Writing resumes
-Writing
I recommend you fill up an entire page of paper, listing the things you love.
What the world needs
Obviously, the world needs a lot of things, so I recommend you focus your responses on the things in your wheelhouse.
For example, if I give the response of “cheaper gas prices,” I have responded with a need I have no control over.
Here are five things I think the world needs, within my sphere of influence:
-More people who love, and are fully engaged, with their jobs
-A more effective way to connect employers with quality employees
-Affordable coaching for people wanting help in navigating their careers
-Job seekers need support and encouragement from other job seekers
-Help for people needing to manage their minds around their job search, their careers, their marketability
Fill up as much of a full page as you can on this prompt, remembering to keep your responses in your wheelhouse.
What I can be paid for
Most of us need to make money following our purpose – unless we are trust fund babies who can go around being altruistic all day, every day.
Take your previous list of “what the world needs,” and think about the job titles and opportunities you might have to get paid for delivering what the world needs.
Here’s my list:
-More people who love, and are fully engaged, with their jobs – I can use my writing talents and presentation skills to deliver this information to job seekers via newsletters, speaking engagements, podcasts, and coaching
-A more effective way to connect employers with quality employees – Not sure what this might look like, but I want to create something that is easy for employers to use AND more friendly for employees – while also being highly effective
-Affordable coaching for people wanting help in navigating their careers – Offer group programs that keep the cost more affordable without sacrificing any of the quality
-Job seekers need support and encouragement from other job seekers – This can be baked into the group programs I offer. I could also create a FB group and a LI group for job seekers.
-Help for people needing to manage their minds around their job search, their careers, their marketability – Whether I’m leading a group or working with a client 1:1, I can use the Thought Model and other tools to help my clients manage their thoughts during their job search.
What I am good at
This should be specific skills you bring to the table. Here are five of mine:
-Establishing rapport with prospective clients and others I come in contact with
-Asking incisive questions that give me the information I need to work effectively with clients
-Writing – whether resumes, LI profiles, newsletters, or podcast show notes, I am a great writer
-Using humor in the coaching process to lighten the intensity while also getting the point across
-Influencing others – whether I am selling them on a package of my services or selling them on a strategy I want them to try out, I am very influential
Bringing it all together
Remember, Ikigai is the intersection of:
-What I love
-What the world needs
-What I can be paid for
-What I am good at
Again – journaling really helps here. Bring your answers to these four prompts into a single focus and come up with a page full of possibilities.
Initially, don’t edit your responses – just come up with as many as possible, even if they sound crazy to you, impractical, or if you find yourself coming up with ways it wouldn’t work.
Once you’ve created your initial list, begin to cross out ideas for legitimate reasons. In other words, don’t shy away from the impractical or crazy, but rather discriminate based on what really appeals and excites you.
You may want the help of a trusted friend or even a career coach for this phase – to help you see what you may be too enmeshed in to see for yourself.
There are many possible steps after this, which will vary depending on the paths you’re considering. But hopefully, Ikigai has gotten you thinking about what you were put on this earth to do.
Your answer to living a life of purpose.
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