Ikigai And Work Life
Ikigai is a well-known Japanese life philosophy that helps people of working age find happiness and balance in their lives. Working-Age people are not uncommon to experience ‘burnout’ symptoms as a result of working long and hard hours every day.
Because of the long hours and hard work, it raises questions about everyone’s life and work. As a result, ikigai is used as a work philosophy to help people find their self-worth, work, and passion in order to set goals in life.
What is “Ikigai”?
In Japanese, the word ikigai can be broken down into two words: “iki” means life and “gai” means sentimental value. When combined, ikigai means “purpose of existence.”
This philosophy encourages people to appreciate their surroundings and to find happiness in their bodies and minds through self-discovery. Ikigai includes a four-element answering principle to help you figure out what you like and excel at.
The 4 Elements of Ikigai
1. What You Love
The first element is what you love or like, or what makes you happy and that you want to continue doing. When you discover what you enjoy, which preference may help you want to develop the potential and skills in that area in yourself in order to be better. This enables efficient work in order to select a job that is suitable for oneself and fully utilize one’s skills.
2. What You Are Good At
The second element is about those skills, knowledge, competencies in areas of work, expertise in what you do, or unique skills that may not match your course of study but are learned through training. It can be called “Hard Skills”.
When applying for a job, this point can be used as a presentation point for the interviewer. It will give the interviewer the impression that you are well-versed in yourself.
3. What You Can Be Paid For
The third element is something that can earn you money to live, such as working, running a business, doing what you enjoy or are good at. This section will assist us in selecting jobs that match our skills or preferences in order to generate more income.
4. What the World Needs
The fourth element is something that can benefit an organization at work, society, or the world, such as the use of one’s abilities or skills to help organizations or society.
This could begin with simple things like using your skills to work in the organization. Occupation during a societal shortage, which will make work create a good feeling for yourself because the available skills can be very useful.
The Ikigai Theories from The Elements
Stacking the elements when discovering talents, skills, doing what you love, doing what can earn a living, and doing what society or the world needs results in four more ikigai theories. This is what clarifies what motivates life and work and uncovers more meaning in life.
1. Passion
This section combines what you love and what you are good at, resulting in passion. When you know what you enjoy and what you are good at, it becomes a motivator to work out as planned.
Passion or motivation at work should be sought first and foremost in order to create the drive to work efficiently while also creating happiness at work.
2. Mission
This is about combining what you love and what the world needs, such as doing a job you enjoy that is marketable or can benefit society. And if it’s a regular job that you do every day that is still beneficial and able to help other people or society, it will make you appreciate your work even more.
When you realize the importance of working as a duty, you will feel more prepared to work for people, work well for a society in need, and gain a sense of giving. This will bring you happiness and satisfaction in your work.
3. Vocation
The intersection of what the world needs and what you can be paid for is what defines vocation. It is a job that is in demand in the market or that can provide the desired income.
Whether it’s a full-time job or other side jobs, determine which work is both needed by the world and generates income for you. It can also be used to boost self-esteem, making you feel good about yourself.
4. Profession
This section combines what you are good at with what you can be paid for in order to become a profession. This can be done to generate income for yourself, such as applying for a job that is a good fit for your skills. This creates a regular career that you enjoy, acting as a connecting point that can lead to a love of the profession.
Putting the Ikigai Concept to Work
Ikigai is a philosophy that has led many people to realize the importance of living and working together. Anyone can discover their own ikigai, which, when discovered, can create momentum happiness at work.
This is also a philosophy that promotes life balance by making things feel valuable and meaningful, as well as achieving better life goals. It is also a work philosophy that helps us plan for future growth.
Finding one’s own ikigai is rediscovering the value of living itself, which is combining living and working to gain momentum to do more, resulting in a good life balance.
The concept of Iki philosophy can be applied in organizations that are experiencing employee burnout or boredom from repeating the same routine. Let us try to apply it to the organization’s employees. In some organizations, the HR department may solve human resource management issues by utilizing the services of a business solution provider company.
Humanica, Thailand’s Human Resource (HR) service provider, is a leader in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems that help manage any problems with a team of experts and decades of experience to help business organizations plan and create steady progress.
