aNewDomain — If you believe that reading endless top 10 lists and obeying algorithms will make your career choice more informed and easier to follow, you are deluding yourself. Yes, of course the top 10 job search sites out there will help you find a job, but they won’t help you find a passionate career.
You need to look inside for that. You need to find “ikigai.”
The drawing to the right shows the components that go into finding ikigai, a Japanese term that means roughly “that which most makes one’s life seem worth living.”
This isn’t as simple as searching for a top 10 list, clearly. But if you’re a person with a passion and dream, try to use this model to create your own mosaic for a joyous life.
English has no exact equivalent of the term, but ikigai applies to every culture of earth. Ikigai is what, day after day and year after year, each of us most essentially lives for.
Searching for Ikigai
This search will help you clarify what brings meaning to your life. The points you should think about are:
- Achievements: What you are proud of?
- Knowledge: Know your strength and areas of specific knowledge.
- Skills: What are you good at on a daily basis?
- Self-image: Who are you in your eyes?
- Personality: Do you know which work scenario fits your personality?
We all learn from different cultures because we are driven by very similar motives and belong to tribes that have common ground. Keep an open mind, take your time and keep searching for your ikigai.
For aNewDomain, I’m David Michaelis.
Featured image: Life is Elsewhere by Gisela Giardino via Flickr
Body image: Ikigai image courtesy theviewinside.me
