topic: [[Living]] people: #people/ created: 2025-04-11 *Why do you get out of bed in the morning?* ##### what is Ikigai? Ikigai is a japanese term with no direct translation, although it might be considered the combination of two words that together mean "Life Value." ![[ikigai blank.png]] _Rather than thinking of life’s domains — career, family, hobbies, community — as competing for space, I imagine them as a flywheel. Each gives momentum to the others. Your parenting might deepen your empathy at work. Your climbing hobby may sharpen your focus, give you skills at self-regulation and [[interoception]] that help you in the resuscitation bay. Your career as an Emergency Physician might give you a greater sense for the impermanence of life and push you from resentment to gratitude when you are with your family. When they interact, the system spins smoother._ ![[Vocation-model-complete-2019-12-10.png]] (Rethinking Ikigai, Mackinnon 2019) ##### why does it matter? Often in the West, Ikigai is applied to work, but in Japan, Ikigai refers to life purpose, value, and finding your reason to be. It does not have to be your profession. I currently believe it is the emergent interaction between your values, your perception, your experiences, and the feedback the world gives you in all its forms - whether money or smiles, pain or pleasure, satisfaction of overcoming or failure. Your vocation also can have many shapes: [[career path models]] can exist in many forms, spirals, constellations, staircases, linear and non-linear. How do you live an interesting life with [[psychological richness]]? ##### This reminds me of [[start with why]], [[Developing Values]], and [[My life as a design challenge]]. A design challenge means trying things and getting real-world feedback, making small experiments and learning along the way. ##### What would the opposite argument be? Why should the world contribute to how you feel? Why do you want to give power to the outside world? Shouldn't it all be in your control? I'm not sure I appreciate the term "vocation" applied to this idea, it implies a separation of life and career. I prefer the idea that your life and your career exist in a Flywheel, not a competition for space in your life, instead interacting to give your whole life energy, direction, and momentum. Is your life a [[zero-sum thinking]] project? Or how does your career support your parenting, and your parenting support your career? Sure, they are in competition with one another for your time, but doesn't your life as a mother/sibling/child make you a better, more empathetic clinician? ![[CleanShot 2025-04-11 at 09.36.23.jpg]] tags: #note/idea | #on/values | #on/living | #on/happiness ##### Sources: _Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life_. (2017, August 7). [https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170807-ikigai-a-japanese-concept-to-improve-work-and-life](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170807-ikigai-a-japanese-concept-to-improve-work-and-life) _Rethinking Ikigai: How To Find Work You Love And Make A Difference – Lauchlan Mackinnon_. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2025, from [https://lauchlanmackinnon.com/rethinking-ikigai-how-to-find-work-you-love-and-make-a-difference/](https://lauchlanmackinnon.com/rethinking-ikigai-how-to-find-work-you-love-and-make-a-difference/)