Finding Your

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Dan Buettner,* a three-time Guinness World Record holder and best-selling author, conducted a long experiment to find out how people who live to be more than 100 years old, called centenarians, manage to do it. His team spoke to the centenarians from four Blue Zones, areas where they found the most number of people who lived the longest.* One of the zones included the northern part of Okinawa, a prefecture in Japan made up of 161 islands. Aside from a plant-based diet and a tight-knit community, he found out that what set them apart was their practice of ikigai.*

Ikigai* (pronounced ee-key-guy) is a Japanese word that loosely means the reason you get up in the morning. It encompasses the idea that happiness is more than money and titles. According to a book written on this concept by Hector Garcia and Albert Liebermann,* “The origin of the word ikigai goes back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). Clinical psychologist and avid expert of the ikigai evolution, Akihiro Hasegawa released a research paper in 2001 where he wrote that the word ‘gai’ comes from the word ‘kai’ which translates to ‘shell’ in Japanese. During the Heian period, shells were extremely valuable, so the association of value is still inherently seen in this word.”

This intangible ideology is what gives you the sense of purpose and meaning that most people search for their entire life. It makes your life worthwhile, happy, and satisfactory.

But how do you find it?

The most actionable way to understand this idea is through a Venn diagram that comprises four categories as shown above: what you are good at, what the world needs, what you can be paid for, and what you love. At their intersection, you supposedly find your ikigai.

Let’s look at each in some detail.

What You Are Good At

This quadrant is about trying to bring out both your natural and hard-earned talents.

More often than not, we have blind spots when it comes to our strengths and weaknesses. Melody Wilding, an executive coach and author who found her purpose by practicing ikigai,* writes, “Ironically, qualities about myself that I took for granted were precisely what others saw as unique and valuable. Instead of downplaying my knack for empathy, their comments nudged me to look deeper at how I could leverage my sensitivity as a strength and pivot my career to focus on coaching, teaching, and writing.”

So, as you are filling this quadrant, ask some of your closest friends and those who work with you about your strengths. Their answer might just surprise you.

What the World Needs

This quadrant is about trying to unearth what you care about and what you can contribute to the world, society, and your family.

Whenever I think about this quadrant, I get reminded of something that Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said in an interview with Marc Benioff.* Below is a paraphrased version of his talk.

It became clear to me in my upper 30s that we are searching for a lifetime for our purpose. Early in life, you think your purpose is deciding your major in school. You choose your major and you graduate. But guess what? You still don’t know what your purpose is. So you keep looking, and you think maybe it’s about getting a job. But, no, it wasn’t that. And then maybe it becomes a promotion, maybe it becomes a marriage, maybe it becomes a child. And at some point, you recognize that the reason we are all here is to help somebody else.

That is the sole reason we are here.

What You Can Be Paid For

Whether you like it or not, you need to do something that brings the bread home. This quadrant is about trying to figure out what that something is.

We live in an age where jobs that never existed a decade ago are heavily sought after today. Being a YouTuber went from a side-hobby to a serious job for many millennials.* Being an influencer on TikTok can earn you more than an entry-level Software Engineer role at Google.* Ten years from now, don’t be alarmed when you see jobs with titles like Drone Traffic Controller and AR Journey Builder.

The world is moving fast.

So think outside the box when you answer this question.

What You Love

Ah, we come to the most important quadrant of all. This quadrant is about helping you figure out what makes it all worth it.

Your passion may not always be the cause of things. I did not grow up dreaming of being an author one day. I grew up wanting to be a surgeon. I became an author after spending years learning to write and actually writing. The thousands of hours spent made me feel passionate about this craft, and now I cannot imagine not being an author. So don’t just look at things you feel passionate about without actually having spent time dipping your toes in them.