How many people make their job the centre of their life?
How many people expect their job to fulfil all their needs? To make them happy, rich, successful, fulfilled, to allow them to make an impact on the world.
How many people want more from their job? More challenges, more growth and especially more money. They apply for new roles so that they can grow, but are rejected. They want to be involved in the next project so they can add impact, but are overlooked. They want a pay rise and recognition for the improvements they have made, but are not rewarded.
What do they do?
If the doors are closed in their faces at work then they look elsewhere.
They do something on the side.
Most people start a side-hustle.
They find another job or create a business on the side. They find another way of making money. Some extra money.
But what if it wasn’t just about the money. What if we made enough money but feel unsatisfied for other reasons? What might those other reasons be?
Enter Ikigai
Ikigai is a Japanese word for ‘life worth’ or ‘life purpose’.
Ikigai has four directions:
What you love doing
What you are good at
What the world needs
What you get paid for
If we are not satisfied with the amount of money we are making, we might start a side hustle.
The question is, could we do the same with the other three directions in Ikigai?
If we don’t love our job, could we do something on the side we love?
If we don’t do what we are good at in our job, could we do what we are good at on the side?
If we don’t feel like our job is helping the world, could we help the world on the side?
Side helpful
One direction of life purpose is ‘doing something the world needs’.
You may feel you want to make the world a better place. You want to help others. You look around to see what the world needs.
If you reflect on your job, do you feel your job helps the world somehow?
I struggle to see how my job helps the world. How it deeply and positively impacts people.
Sometimes asking what the ‘world’ needs might be too grand, too big to get your head around.
How about asking what your country needs? What does your city need? What does your local area need? What does your local community need?
What springs to mind?
Perhaps looking to your values may help. Your values are what is important to you.
One of my main values is style. Style is about self-expression. If I can find ways of helping others express themselves, then perhaps that could be my way to help.
I initially attended Toastmasters (a public speaking organisation) for selfish reasons. I went to get better at speaking and get better at communicating my ideas. Once I got to a point where I could share my ideas and felt like they were being heard, I realised I had found my voice.
Then I began to help others. Others who were earlier on in their journey. Helping others to find their voice. To overcome fears. To stand up in front of a group of strangers, and share their personal stories.
You might choose to volunteer in a charity shop one afternoon a week. You might choose to go out and help feed the homeless one night a week. You might pick up the litter around your local park one morning a week.
Side flow
One direction of your life purpose is ‘doing what you are good at’.
Doing something you are good at would suggest you would need to use your strengths and/or talents.
If you apply your strengths in a situation which is just challenging enough, you achieve flow.
Flow appears at peak performance. In flow, you are fully absorbed in what you are doing. Everything else melts away. You are at one with the task.
In my job, I have found it twice. Once when I just to put rock music on my iPhone and then cost clinical trial research grants into a costing tool. I would spend a couple of hours completely absorbed. I wouldn’t hear my phone ring or my colleagues talking.
The other time was when I was building a system to automate some processes. Month-end finance reporting. In both instances, I was fully immersed in what I was doing. My concept of time would go completely out of the window. I would have to set alarms and reminders for lunchtime and home time.
If your job does not allow you to achieve flow, perhaps you should find an activity that does allow you to find flow. Something outside of your job. You need to find a side flow.
Personally, I have found flow outside of work. I have found it in martial arts. If you are grappling with someone and they are trying to pull your head off, I am not thinking about other things. I am not thinking about the washing I need to do when I get home. I am not thinking about needing to mow the lawn this weekend. I am not thinking about what I am having for dinner tonight. I am focused on the present, the task in hand. I have no choice. Unless I like getting my arms pulled off.
Similarly, I have found flow in speaking and in writing. If I know my material well I can get carried away with what I am talking about. Focused completely on communicating the purpose of my speech. When I write, I write on my iPhone. I can be so absorbed that I narrowly miss walking into other people, or trees and bushes, or lampposts.
For you it could be cooking, it could cleaning, dancing or singing.
Side passion
One direction of your life purpose is ’doing what you love’.
Now love is an emotion. When we are strongly emotive about a subject then it is a passion.
Is there anything in your job that you are passionate about? That you get strongly emotional about?
I get really excited when I create a solution that saves a load of time. Is more effective and as far as I know, no one else has used it (within my organisation anyway). Especially around processes and systems. Semi automating a process so it takes two hours rather than two days.
If you are not overly passionate or emotional in your work, then maybe you can find a passion outside of your work.
For me outside of work, martial arts provides a passion. There is an enjoyment, a positive emotional experience in sparring with a peer. Especially grappling. When you are evenly matched, you are rolling, twisting, squiring to get the upper hand. Sparring with a much better opponent isn’t so much fun. I had my jaw crushed at lunchtime and my mouth is currently cramped shut.
For you, it might be wine. You join a wine club, go to wine tasting classes. You do a wine tasting course. You attend wine tasting events.
Takeaways
According to the concept of Ikigai, your life purpose has four directions. We hope our job fulfils all these directions. If your job doesn’t though, can we fulfil these directions by doing something on the side?
If you aren’t happy with how much money you are making in your job then start a ‘side hustle’. A business to make more money.
If you don’t feel your job helps the world, then start a ‘side helpful’. Volunteer somewhere that helps other people and aligns with your values.
If you don’t feel you do what you are good at in your job then start a ‘side flow’. Find a hobby or interest that allows you to use your strengths/talents and achieve flow.
If you don’t feel you love what you do in your job then start a ‘side passion’. Find a hobby or interest that you get emotional about. Especially strong positive emotions such as happiness, excitement, satisfaction and especially love.
Footnotes
This TED talk about Ikigai by Tim Tamashiro gave me the idea for this article.
How to Ikigai | Tim Tamashiro | TEDxYYC
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