Do you know about the concept of Ikigai?

At Sladen Consulting you hear us talking a lot about being and acting in your ‘sweet spot’. In work and in life.

Take some time and draw your own Ikigai diagram and think about these four qualities?

Which of them are overlapping in your personal diagram -see our first picture?

What sits in the centre point where all 4 overlap?

What does it mean to you if certain areas do not overlap at all with one of the others – very much like in our second example?

Is there something you can and want to consider or change?

Grab a friend or colleague and talk it through.

Ikigai is the Japanese concept that means your ‘reason for being’. ‘Iki’ in Japanese means ‘life’, and ‘gai’ describes value or worth. Your ikigai is your life purpose or your bliss. It’s what brings you joy and inspires you to get out of bed every day.

The Westernised interpretation has used it more as a method of finding your ‘dream career’. The associated Venn diagram helps to visualize this concept by showing these four main overlapping qualities: The centre point where all four circles overlap is your Ikigai.