How do you work out your purpose in life?

How do you work out your purpose in life? I recently finished a book about the Japanese concept of ikigai, which approximately translates as “the happiness of always being busy”. I thought this was a very powerful idea, as it describes how to discover what gives you most meaning in your life. When you find your ikigai, and focus on using it regularly, it leads to a feeling of strong motivation, as well as great satisfaction. Who wouldn’t want more happiness and motivation in their life?

Four key areas

To find your own ikigai you will need to do a bit of self-analysis. Get a piece of paper and jot down some of your initial thoughts that crop up when you think about the following questions.

Question 1 – What do you love to do?

Question 2 – What are you good at?

Question 3 – What can you do that other people are willing to pay for?

Question 4 – What can you do that other people need?

Spend some time thinking about each question in turn, and notice what thoughts crop up. What are your thoughts trying to reveal to you?

Ikigai

Your ikigai occurs at the intersection of these four areas. In essence, your ikigai can be used as an answer for any of the four questions. This is why it is important to listen to your thoughts, particularly if something keeps cropping up in your mind. If you keep trying to ignore something, and push it to the back of your mind but it keeps coming back, then pay attention. It may well be a strong indicator that you are on the right track. Your subconscious often has the answers you need, and it is just a case of revealing them by asking the right questions. I wish you luck in trying to work out your own purpose in life.

Clues

If you are struggling for ideas, it may be easier to look at two of the questions together. Your mission, passion, profession and vocation can be found at the intersection of two of the questions listed above.

Mission

Your mission is defined as something that you love to do, that other people need. For me I see this as being the advice that I can give other people on how I have managed to simplify my own life, and the happiness it has brought me.

Passion

Your passion is defined as something that you love to do and are good at. For me, this is writing. I have loved setting up my blog and publishing my thoughts daily.

Profession

Your profession is defined as something that you are good at that other people are willing to pay for. This is usually where we get our main source of income, but that doesn’t mean it is something that we enjoy. In the future, I hope to use my writing skills to build an online course to explain how I managed to simplify my life. Or I could write a book. Time will tell.

Vocation

Your vocation is defined as something that other people need and are willing to pay for. Again, I see that in the future I could fulfil this by designing a course or writing a book.

Beware the “good enough” trap

Beware the danger of thinking if something ticks three of the four boxes it is “good enough”.

I had a great job, that I was good at. Other people needed what I offered, and were willing to pay me well for it. But I didn’t love doing it. If you are feeling comfortable, but have a nagging sense of emptiness, this is a sign that this may be the case for you too.

If you feel satisfied, but have a nagging sense of uselessness, this is a sign that you have ticked three of the boxes, but are missing what you are good at.

If you feel excitement, but have a nagging sense of uncertainty, this is a sign that you are missing something that other people need.

If you feel delight but have no wealth, it is quite clearly a sign that you have ticked all the boxes except something that other people are willing to pay for.

Can you find an answer that ticks all four boxes? I wish you luck as you work out your purpose in life. It can quite literally be life-changing!

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 351 days to go!

Why not check in on a regular basis to see how I am progressing, and what I have discovered?