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E18: Ikigai, How to Live With Purpose

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June 25, 2018 By Oskar Faarkrog Leave a Comment

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Episode Summary:


Listen to the full episode on iTunes (and please leave a rating to help the podcast reach more people):  E18: Ikigai, How to Live With Purpose

The word Ikigai is a Japanese word which contains 4 positive aspects:

  • What you love
  • What the world needs
  • What you are good at
  • What you can be paid for

In a culture of masters such as the Japanese culture, mastery is more important than money.

In Japan, oregami and sushi masters receive a lot of respect, even if they aren’t highly paid.

Passion is an important part of Ikigai but lately in Western media it has become too prominent. Everything is about following your passion however doing so is not based in reality.

Making use of your natural talent and chasing an important mission are equally important to passion.

Why? Because you can often become passionate about a skill or craft as long as you have a small amount of liking towards that skill or craft from the beginning.

The more time and effort you invest into a skill or craft you like to a small extent, the more you start to like it.

Building on that, consider that you can choose to spend your life doing one of the following:

  1. Working on a skill or craft that you naturally excel at but which you have a small amount of liking for.
  2. Working on a skill or craft that you’re naturally bad at but which you have a lot of liking for.

If both options can get you paid, it’s better to choose the one where you work on something you’re naturally good at and have a small amount of liking for because over the long-term you will end up liking it, be more likely to make more money and provide more value to society.

For example, when you watch a famous YouTuber enjoy themselves on camera it might all just be an act.

Perhaps the famous YouTuber is naturally good at being in front of the camera but doesn’t enjoy being in front of the camera. He puts himself through the stage fright to do what he’s naturally good at, make more money and provide more value.

What you’re good at combined with what you can be paid for = Natural Profession.

What you love combined with what the world needs = Mission.

All 4 combined = Ikigai (natural profession + mission)

– Oskar Faarkrog


We are right now creating the Future Skills Program which will be an online video course covering decision making and risk management with weekly homework and evaluations.

* Why decision making and risk management? Because better decisions and risk management equal better finances, better relationships and an overall better life.

* Decisions are the foundation of everything you do and the outcome you eventually get.

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