Lack of motivation, burnout, unhappiness at work... Do you sometimes feel more like enduring your workday than enjoying it? Is getting up in the morning difficult, and is your mental health suffering? Are you considering a career change, a new job, or a different sector? How can you express your talents in your current role? Maybe it's time to sit down and identify the reason(s) for your unhappiness and find a job that makes sense for you. That's a pretty broad question, and one that's not always easy to identify. It's a broad question, not always easy to answer. So, to help with self-discovery, here's a popular career assessment tool: the Ikigaï, invented by the Japanese! We'll explain how to use it to find your passions, motivations, and ideal fit.
The Ikigai method: definition
Ikigai, a Japanese philosophy of life from the island of Okinawa, focuses on living in the present moment to achieve happiness. Finding your Ikigai means finding meaning in everything you do and gaining a better understanding of yourself. This philosophy has been translated into a method for understanding how each of us can direct our lives towards greater fulfillment and experience a state of happiness and well-being daily. Many books explain this concept, which is often used for:
- Career guidance
- Skills assessment and retraining programs
- Developing leadership skills
- Preventing psychosocial risks and improving quality of life at work (by psychologists)
Ikigai is often represented as a diagram with four intersecting circles. So, how do you find your Ikigai? For each of the 4 components, ask yourself some questions to identify what fulfills you. Grab a pen and paper! This is your moment of introspection, so take it step-by-step.
1. What you like
Knowing what your talents are, what you enjoy doing, brings your personality traits to light. Answer the following questions as spontaneously as possible:
- In your current professional life, do you enjoy what you do?
- When you feel motivated to get up for work, what drives you?
- What activities do you enjoy at work?
- What activities make you happy at work?
- What are you doing that you're so absorbed and you can't see the time go by? It could be at work, or on your own time.
- If you have a new professional project, why do you want to join this project / job?
- And outside of work, how do you express your talents?
- What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
You can also draw on your experiences in Draw on past experiences, both professional career and on your free time, and even think back to what made you happy as a child;
Here's an example for me: When I'm writing this article on Ikigaï, I spend 1-2 hours exploring the resources that exist on the subject to pick out what I think is most relevant to this article. I love exploration and research, especially in the mornings. So I adapt my schedule to the way I like to accomplish my different tasks.
A counter-example: When I spent days working on prospecting files when I was a sales rep, I wasn't making the most of my talents. I spent too much time concentrating on this task, whereas what I love is building relationships.
2. What you're good at
Feeling valued is also a factor of fulfillment and commitment at work. The second circle of the Ikigaï character test aims to identify your strengths, your talents – what you'd highlight to a recruiter during an interview. Here's a series of questions to help you identify your qualities:
- When do you get positive feedback at work or from others?
- What services do you provide?
- What tasks do you find easy while others struggle with them? Even if comparing yourself isn't ideal, here it can be insightful.
An example for me: On a daily basis, I find it easy to meet new people. I enjoy interviewing them, and it comes naturally to me compared to others.
3. What the world needs
The meaning of work contributes to job satisfaction. It varies based on our personality traits and values. The vision of what the world needs is therefore not the same for everyone. The third circle of the Ikigai aims to list the global needs closest to your heart. Here's a question that reflects people's personalities and appeals to their emotions. It can also help you come up with new career ideas more in line with your personal traits, values and talents.
- What has been important in your career?
- What current issues affect you?
- How do these issues make you feel emotionally?
- How can you integrate what the world needs into your work environment?
- In the context of a career change, what professions and structures do you see as meeting these needs?
About me: I write for jobs_that_makesense about career guidance and impact at work. Many seek to add meaning in their work by transitioning to impactful work, seeking information on defining or building a career project.
On jobs_that_makesense, you can also identify the cause close to your heart, by scrolling down to the "For what impact?" feature on the job search bar!
4. What you can get paid for
Finally, the last circle of the diagram addresses reality. Even if you love ponies, earning a living in that field might be tough. So, this last step is to list your technical and behavioral skills for which you can earn money. Here are a few questions to help you identify them:
- Can you make money doing what you love?
- How much money do you need to live the way you want?
- What career-related skills and talents can you leverage? The idea here is to be as exhaustive as possible, since it's likely that you'll be using skills acquired in a completely different context as part of a career change.
For example: You've worked as a project manager in a bank and your skills can probably be transferred to an association or impact company.
Like the other components, the latter must not be the only one to be favored, otherwise there's no balance.
Synthesize to identify your life mission
Finding your Ikigaï means understanding your personal balance through these 4 circles. The goal is to define a cohesive career path. Once you have lists for each component, find the common threads that connect all 4 circles. This intersection is your Ikigai: the job that truly aligns with you, your life mission.
A few tips for making your Ikigai
- Ikigaï is presented as a method to help you get to know yourself better and find your professional vocation. The answers are not to be taken literally. If you take online tests, particularly questionnaires, keep a distance from the answers they give you. Self-knowledge takes time, and Ikigaï, like other tools, should be taken as a helping hand to support you in your personal development and guide you towards the job or field that suits you. In the end, it's all about taking the time to reflect on yourself that will enable you to move forward.
- Don't be in too much of a hurry to find results. If you don't find answers right away, go back to the drawing board and do regular check-ins at the end of the day. :)
- Finding your career path and talents today, using the Ikigaï method, doesn't mean you've found a path for life. It's an exercise you can repeat regularly, because you change and so does your needs.