Created by @deepwhitman
What should I do with my life?
Each of us asks ourselves this question. And unfortunately the universe usually doesn't hand us a clear and definite answer in our lap. This is where having a framework for approaching this question can be very powerful and help us gain clarity in our thoughts. As Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in the woods, I used a Notion Ikigai Template to figure out which one to take, and that has made all the difference."
According to Wikipedia, Ikigai (生き甲斐) (pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being". The word refers to having a meaningful direction or purpose in life, constituting the sense of one's life being made worthwhile, with actions (spontaneous and willing) taken towards achieving one's ikigai resulting in satisfaction and a sense of meaning to life.
Basically - Ikigai is the reason you get up in the morning. An interesting thing about Ikigai is that this somewhat nebulous state can be broken down into 4 different components. And by looking at the components individually, one can piece together the one thing one should focus on that will maximize their happiness while adding value to the world.
Source: Forbes article on Ikigai
The 4 components are the things
Now that you have an idea of what Ikigai is, let's use this framework to, you know, help us find what your Ikigai is. There are 2 approaches we can take. You can try the one that you resonate with more although I personally find doing them both has value in itself as it further clarifies the results.
We start from the outside of the circle and move in. Write at least 5 things in each column.
Now try to find patterns in the data. Are there things you wrote down that overlap across columns? Can you think of combining certain things together e.g. you love horses and you can get paid for animal training = be a horse trainer. Write them down here: