How to find your Ikigai: Stop Living a Half-Life
Aug 21, 2024
By Will Moore
What if you could wake up every day feeling truly fulfilled and purposeful? This isn't just a dream—it's possible when you discover your ikigai, a Japanese concept that translates to "reason for being."
Like many of you, I once felt lost and unsure of my life's direction. As a teenager, I struggled with severe depression and even contemplated suicide. I felt like an outsider, unable to find my place in the world. But a seemingly ordinary moment during my freshmen year in my "Religions of the World" class became the catalyst for extraordinary change.
It was there that my professor, who I saw as the young, confident, cool guy I wanted to grow up like casually mentioned a book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie that had altered the course of his life. Little did I know that this book would become the first step on my journey to finding my ikigai, the purpose of life.
As I delved into the world of self-help and personal development, I felt overwhelmed by the countless resources promising to reveal the secret to a fulfilling life. Through deep introspection and practical application, I discovered that my true ikigai lay in achieving balance across five core areas of life:
The five core areas I identified are:
Mindset
Career & Finances
Relationships
Physical Health
Emotional & Mental Health/Giving Back
By focusing on these areas and striving for balance among them, I found my true fulfillment. This approach not only pulled me out of depression but also led me to success in various aspects of life, including building and selling my food delivery business for $321M.
This blog post will show you a modern method of finding your ikigai, blending ancient wisdom with new insights. Let's dig in
Upgrades You'll Earn from This Blog:
A clear framework to navigate the complex journey of self-discovery
Practical steps about how to find your ikigai across all five core areas of life
Strategies to overcome common obstacles in your personal growth journey
What is Ikigai and How Can I Find Mine?
Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is a powerful Japanese concept that roughly translates to "a reason for being." This idea has gained worldwide popularity as people seek greater meaning in their lives. It's often associated with the residents of Okinawa, known for their long and happy lives.
The traditional ikigai framework consists of four main elements:
What you love (your passion)
What you're good at (your skills)
What the world needs (your mission)
What you can be paid for (your profession)
Where these four elements intersect is considered your ikigai – your reason for getting up each morning, your source of joy and purpose.
This ikigai diagram visually represents how these elements overlap:
Ikigai And Five Core Areas of Life
Through my personal journey, I discovered that finding your ikigai in today's complex world often requires a more comprehensive approach. The Western interpretation of ikigai often focuses primarily on career building by combining passion, skill, usefulness, and income. However, this perspective overlooks crucial elements such as relationships, mindset, and your physical health, which are equally important in living a fulfilled life.
While the traditional elements of ikigai are crucial, I found that true fulfilment came from balancing what I call the Five Core Areas of Life:
Mindset Core: Getting your mind working FOR instead of against you by developing a "growth owner mindset" who fails forward, sees obstacles as temporary roadblocks, and gives fear the finger.
Career & Finances Core: Earning a living doing what you love and are great at, executing your purpose, and exponentially growing your wealth along the way.
Relationships Core: Creating and maintaining deep, fulfilled relationships and gaining allies to help each other achieve your goals.
Physical Health Core: Taking care of your physical self to look good, feel good, and gain the energy and stamina to propel you through life.
Emotional & Mental Health Core: Managing stress effectively, expressing your passions regularly, and ensuring the world is better for having you in it.
Here's how the Five Core Areas align with and enhance the elements of ikigai:
1. Mindset Core → Passion (What you love)
A growth-oriented mindset is crucial for pursuing your passions and overcoming obstacles. In my case, shifting from a victim mentality to a "growth owner" mindset was the foundation for all my future success. This mindset shift becomes the catalyst for positive repeated actions.
It allows you to genuinely connect with what you love - your passion in the ikigai framework. When your beliefs align with your passions, you're more likely to take consistent action toward your goals, even in the face of adversity.
2. Career & Finances Core → Profession (What you can be paid for) and Vocation (What you're good at)
This core encompasses both your skills and your ability to monetize them. I learned this firsthand when I transformed my entrepreneurial skills into a successful food delivery business.
3. Relationships Core → Interconnectedness (New addition)
Strong relationships provide support and enrichment on your ikigai journey. Developing deep friendships and a loving family became a crucial part of my personal fulfilment.
4. Physical Health Core → Energy and Longevity (New addition)
Good health is foundational to pursuing your ikigai with vitality and persistence. I discovered that understanding my body and optimizing my exercise, diet, and sleep routines significantly boosted my productivity and overall well-being.
5. Emotional & Mental Health/Giving Back Core → Mission (What the world needs)
Emotional well-being and a sense of purpose are intertwined, feeding into your mission. Learning about emotional intelligence and stress management was key to my personal growth and desire to make a positive impact on the world.
This holistic view acknowledges that true fulfilment doesn't come from excelling in just one area of life but from achieving a harmonious balance across all of them.
For example, when I was solely focused on my career, I achieved financial success but felt empty in other areas. It was only when I started nurturing all five cores that I experienced true fulfillment and discovered my personal ikigai: helping others achieve this same balance and momentum in their lives.
Remember, your ikigai journey is unique to you. While these five core areas provide a framework, how you balance and prioritize them will depend on your individual circumstances, values, and goals. The key is to remain aware of all these aspects of your life and strive for growth and balance among them.
What Are the Steps to Find Your Ikigai?
Now that we understand the expanded ikigai framework, let's explore a step-by-step process to discover your own ikigai, using modern tools and insights. This approach integrates the traditional ikigai framework with the Five Core Areas of Life, providing a more comprehensive path to finding your life's purpose.
1. Conduct a Self-Awareness Assessment
Start by reflecting on your current state in each of the Five Core Areas. This step is crucial for finding your ikigai as it provides a clear picture of where you are and where you want to go.
Action steps:
Create a document dedicated to your ikigai exploration. This will be your personal roadmap to a long and happy life. In it, list each of your cores
For each core area, rate your current satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 and write a brief explanation:
Mindset Core: Assess your thought patterns. Are you embracing challenges (growth mindset) or avoiding them (fixed mindset)? Example: "3/5 - I generally approach challenges positively, but sometimes doubt my abilities."
Career & Finances Core: Evaluate your job satisfaction and financial health. Example: "5/10 - My job pays well, but I don't feel passionate about my work."
Relationships Core: Reflect on the quality of your personal and professional relationships. Example: "3/5 - I have close friends, but I'd like to improve my professional network."
Physical Health Core: Consider your current fitness level, diet, and sleep habits. Example: "3.5/10 - I need to establish a consistent exercise routine and improve my diet."
Emotional & Mental Health/Giving Back Core: Gauge your stress levels and overall emotional well-being. Example: "3/5 - I manage daily stress okay, but I'd like to develop better coping mechanisms."
To ease this process and gain deeper insights into your core values and how they contribute to a happy life, take Moore Momentum's Core Values Quiz. It will help you evaluate your performance in key areas of life, scoring each from 1 to 5 to identify strengths and opportunities for growth.
2. Discover Your Passions:
Identify activities and ideas that truly excite you. Don't limit yourself to your current skills or job. Explore new potential passions using online learning platforms or by trying new activities.
Action steps:
Create a "Passions" list:
Start with 5-10 activities you enjoy, regardless of skill level or profitability.
For each activity, rate your enthusiasm on a scale of 1-5.
Identify the top 3 activities that consistently energize you.
Explore new potential passions:
Sign up for 3 free online courses in areas you're curious about.
Attend local meetups or workshops in fields outside your comfort zone.
Set aside 30 minutes daily for a week to research a new topic that intrigues you.
Reflect on your discoveries:
What activities make you lose track of time?
Which topics do you never tire of learning about?
How do these passions relate to the Five Core Areas of your life?
For me, personal development and entrepreneurship eventually led to the creation and exit of my Food Delivery Business and the Moore Momentum system.
3. Recognize Your Strengths
List your skills, talents, and areas of expertise. Go beyond your resume and consider soft skills too. Use online platforms for skill assessments to get objective feedback on your strengths.
Action steps:
Conduct a comprehensive strength assessment:
Take online strength finder assessments (e.g., CliftonStrengths, VIA Character Strengths).
Ask 5-10 trusted friends, family members, and colleagues to list your top 3 strengths.
Review your past achievements and identify the skills that contributed to your success.
Create a "Strengths" list:
List all identified strengths from your assessments and feedback.
Rate each strength on a scale of 1-5 for how much you enjoy using it.
Highlight the top 5 strengths that you both excel at and enjoy using.
Apply your strengths:
For each core area, brainstorm how you can leverage your top strengths more effectively.
Design a 30-day challenge to intentionally use one of your strengths daily in a new way.
Remember, your unique combination of strengths is a crucial part of your ikigai. I discovered that my creativity, which I had long suppressed because of ADHD, was actually one of my greatest assets in business and personal growth.
4. Identify The Legacy You Want To Leave:
Explore how you can contribute to your community or society. This aligns with the "mission" aspect of the traditional ikigai model and the Emotional & Mental Health Core in our expanded framework.
As I reflect on the legacy I want to leave, I realize that my true passion lies in empowering others to improve their lives. While my food delivery business was successful, I've come to understand that my deeper mission is to contribute to people's personal growth and well-being.
Now, as a life coach for young adults, I aim to leave a lasting impact by making personal development accessible and engaging to a wide audience. By gamifying habit formation and providing a holistic approach to life improvement, I'm working towards a legacy of helping thousands of people transform their lives for the better. My goal is to be remembered as someone who innovated in the field of personal development, making it more fun and effective for everyday people.
This mission not only aligns with my passions and strengths but also gives me a sense of purpose, knowing that I'm contributing to society meaningfully.
Here are some steps you can follow to find your mission:
Research global and local challenges:
Spend an hour researching the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Identify 3 local community issues by reading local news or talking to community leaders.
Reflect on how these challenges relate to your personal experiences or concerns.
Connect needs to your passions and strengths:
Create a Venn diagram with three circles: your passions, your strengths, and world needs.
Identify areas of overlap – these are potential areas for your ikigai.
Experiment with contribution:
Volunteer for a local organization addressing a need that resonates with you.
Start a small project (blog, podcast, community group) focused on an issue you care about.
Dedicate 1 hour per week to learning more about problem you aim to solve.
Journal about how addressing these needs affects your sense of purpose and well-being.
Consider how your efforts in this area influence the other Core Areas of your life.
5. Explore Income Opportunities
Brainstorm ways to monetize your passions and skills. This step connects your vocation (what you're good at) with your profession (what you can be paid for).
Look into various career paths, side hustles, or entrepreneurial ventures that align with your passions and strengths. Don't be afraid to think outside the box – my journey took me from real estate to food delivery to personal development. None of these seemed like my dream job at first, but they were all necessary steps along the way to finding my ultimate purpose; helping others figure out how to level up in life.
Remember, finding your ikigai is an ongoing process. These steps are not linear but cyclical – you'll likely revisit and refine them throughout your life journey.
Action steps:
Explore Career and Business Opportunities:
Research 3-5 career paths and 3 entrepreneurial ideas aligning with your passions and strengths
Interview professionals and attend industry events
Create basic business models for top ideas
List and research 5 potential side projects
Evaluate and Prototype:
Assess the financial potential and lifestyle impact of each option
Seek feedback from mentors or peers
Choose one side project or business idea to prototype within a month
Reflect on how these options align with your financial goals and desired work-life balance.
6. Find Intersections
Look for overlaps between your passions, strengths, societal needs, and income potential. This is where the traditional ikigai diagram comes into play, but we're expanding it to include all Five Core Areas.
Use digital mind-mapping tools to visually connect these elements. When I did this exercise, I realized that my passion for personal growth, my entrepreneurial mindset, and the world's need for effective self-improvement systems all intersected. This led to the creation of the Habit Coaching Program, ''The Moore Momentum System''.
Action steps:
Create and Analyze Your Ikigai Map:
Use a digital mind-mapping tool to create an expanded ikigai diagram, including the Five Core Areas, passions, strengths, world needs, and income opportunities
Identify core intersections where all ikigai components overlap, especially those impacting multiple Core Areas.
Develop 3-5 potential "ikigai scenarios" based on these intersections
For example, an Eco-Friendly Food Blogger scenario might emerge at the intersection of a passion for cooking, strength in writing, the world's need for sustainable eating practices, and income opportunities in content creation. This scenario touches multiple Core Areas: Physical Health through promoting nutritious recipes, Emotional Health via creative expression in writing and cooking, and Environmental Impact by advocating for sustainable food choices.
Test Your Top Ikigai Scenario:
Choose one aspect of your most promising ikigai scenario
Design and conduct a 30-day micro-experiment (e.g., volunteering, starting a blog)
Document your experiences and feelings throughout the process
7. Set Clear Goals in Each Core Area
Develop SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals based on your ikigai insights. Ensure your goals are interconnected and support overall life balance.
Action steps:
For each Core Area, create one SMART goal that aligns with your ikigai:
Mindset Core: "I will practice daily affirmations for 5 minutes each morning for the next 30 days to reinforce a growth mindset."
Career & Finances Core: "I will launch a side hustle blog related to my passion for personal development, publishing one article per week for the next 3 months."
Relationships Core: "I will schedule and engage in 2 hours of quality time with loved ones every weekend for the next 2 months."
Physical Health Core: "I will establish a consistent exercise routine by working out for 30 minutes, 3 times a week for the next 6 weeks."
Emotional & Mental Health/Giving Back Core: "I will begin a daily meditation practice, starting with 5 minutes per day and increasing by 1 minute each week for the next 8 weeks."
Break down your goals into small, daily actionable steps. Design a gamified reward system to reinforce positive habits. For each goal, identify 3-5 daily or weekly habits that will contribute to its achievement.
Read More: 7 Steps to Goal Setting
8. Create a personalized "Ikigai Journey" game:
I found that treating personal development like a game makes it more engaging and sustainable. Create your own "ikigai journey" by setting up levels, challenges, and rewards for each habit you want to build.
Define "levels" for each Core Area (e.g., Novice, Apprentice, Master).
Set up "challenges" for each habit (e.g., "7-day meditation streak").
Establish rewards for completing challenges and leveling up (e.g., buying a new book, taking a day trip).
Use a habit-tracking app (e.g., Habitica, Fabulous) to gamify your habit-building process.
Create a physical or digital "Ikigai Dashboard" to visualize your progress across all Core Areas.
9. Implement and Track Progress:
I used to transfer my handwritten notes onto my computer every night, mesmerized by the progress I was making. Today, there are numerous apps that can help you track your progress more efficiently.
Action steps:
Set up a digital habit tracker (e.g. 5 Core Life Weekly Habit Tracker, Loop Habit Tracker, and the Streaks App) for daily monitoring.
Implement the "don't break the chain" method:
Use the app or set up a physical calendar checklist to mark each day you work on your ikigai-related habits.
Aim for unbroken streaks in each Core Area for optimal life satisfaction.
Schedule a weekly "Ikigai Review" session:
Spend 30 minutes every Sunday reviewing your progress.
Update your tracking systems and reflect on your experiences.
Use a journaling app (e.g., Day One, Journey) to record daily insights and challenges.
10. Reflect and Adjust
Schedule regular review sessions (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to analyze your progress, challenges, and new insights. It will help reduce friction on your weekly review to put all the above items you've created into one folder that you can easily access and pull up each week to review/edit/add to. The more you use these deeply personal lists, the more self aware you'll become, the more you'll grow, and the more holistic balance you'll achieve.
Read More: Self Reflection Questions for Growth
Remember, finding your ikigai is an iterative process. Be prepared to adjust your approach as you learn and grow.
Action Steps:
Schedule structured review sessions:
Weekly: Quick progress check and minor adjustments on.
Monthly: Deeper reflection on goal progress and habit effectiveness.
Quarterly: Comprehensive ikigai reassessment and goal realignment.
Use guided reflection prompts:
How have my actions aligned with my values and purpose?
What unexpected challenges or opportunities have arisen?
How has my understanding of my ikigai evolved?
Adjust your approach based on insights:
Modify goals or habits that aren't serving your ikigai.
Explore new areas of interest that have emerged.
Celebrate successes and learn from setbacks.
By following these steps and consistently working on all Five Core Areas, you'll be well on your way to discovering your personal ikigai and living a more fulfilling life.
Conclusion: How to Find Your Ikigai
Remember, finding your ikigai is an ongoing journey. It requires self-reflection, adaptability, and a commitment to growth across all aspects of your life. As you progress, your ikigai will likely evolve, reflecting your changing self and the world around you.
In my own quest, I transformed from a struggling teenager to a thriving entrepreneur with a fulfilled and balanced life. This change wasn’t just about financial success – it was about discovering purpose and harmony in all five core areas of life.
My ikigai became clear: to help others achieve this same balance and momentum in their lives.
So, are you ready to begin your ikigai journey? 🚀 It’s time to take the first step, and the best place to start is with the Moore Momentum System. Designed to make building healthy habits as fun and engaging as a game, this system will guide you through each step of your ikigai journey, helping you thrive in all five core areas of life.
Are you ready to level up your life? Click here to take the CORE VALUES QUIZ and find your ikigai with Moore Momentum!
FAQs
What is an example of finding your ikigai?
Example: A teacher who loves working with children, excels at explaining complex topics, fulfills a societal need for education, and earns a living from teaching has likely found their ikigai in education.
What is ikigai formula?
The ikigai formula is often represented as a Venn diagram with four overlapping circles:
Passion (what you love)
Mission (what the world needs)
Vocation (what you can be paid for)
Profession (what you're good at)
Your ikigai is at the center where all four circles intersect.
What are the 7 rules of ikigai?
The 7 rules of ikigai, as outlined by Héctor GarcÃa and Francesc Miralles, are:
Stay active; don't retire
Take it slow
Don't fill your stomach
Surround yourself with good friends
Get in shape for your next birthday
Smile
Reconnect with nature
What is the 80% rule ikigai?
The 80% rule in ikigai, known as "hara hachi bu," suggests eating only until you're 80% full. This Okinawan practice is believed to contribute to longevity and overall well-being by preventing overeating.