"Your ikigai is a work in progress because you are a work in progress. Knowing your ikigai, then, takes patience and insight, and courage, and honesty." - Rob Bell
Purpose, a motive, a cause, and a belief, pushing me to get through the days of grief
Raison d'etre, Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and now you have an Ikigai. This has been a recent study that I have come across because of my inquisitive attitude always searching for new information to expand my wisdom and knowledge. I was watching a Tech Alliance Masterclass conducted by Christina Fox and Patrick Gregory on how to lead product teams and he mentioned Ikigai. He stated that in order to have a very effective product team, there must be an ikigai so that the team members are able to connect to this mission in order to progress forward. Therefore, I was able to get a very interesting book on Ikigai to further my insight on it, so here we go.
Ikigai by definition means "a reason for being." Essentially it's a Japanese concept referring
to something as a motivation for living or reason to get up in the morning. In their culture everyone has a ikigai and it's one of your missions in life to be able to search within to find your ikigai so that you can endure through strenuous toils of life and live a happy long life. Here's a picture below of what your Ikigai is consists of,
What intrigues me the most about an Ikigai is that it is the intersection of what you love the most, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. All of these aspects enable you to live a purposeful life. Personally, I have searched for my Ikigai and I found it when I was 23 years old, sitting in my house in Houston, Texas, that my purpose is to enlighten. Open the eyes of people and show them new possibilities they can reach with their life, whether that's through spirituality, business, social, etc. My mission is to illuminate.
Now how does an ikigai correlate to reducing our stress levels. By reading the book called "Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Hector Garcia, they have a whole section on stress and how to reduce the effects of it. It was definitely profound because it led me to find the American Institute of Stress, which had so much information on what I needed to add to my sales and marketing material. Here are some key points that I got from the book which leads to reducing stress.
Walk to work in order to enhance longevity, sound mind in a sound body
Intrinsic motivations help you reduce stress because it gives you the motivation to endure
Connect with your community in order to build social ties for your well-being
Eat a healthy diet, and not to fullness so you can reduce your appetite
Get the right amount of sleep daily
Play with children or pets, or join a sports team
Be conscious of your daily routine
Overall, these are lessons in which I got from studying Ikigai and I have implemented many tactics in my life and continue to implement more so that hopefully I can be a centenarian and live a long life. I hope you enjoy the blog, and stay tuned for tomorrow, peace!! :)
Comments