Amanda KristolA Japanese approach known as ikigai is older than “The Toyota Way.” It will be successful if you include ikigai in your current or future business.
Japan is well-known throughout the world for both its sophisticated food and its corporate practices. Businesses have absorbed and modified 21st-century corporate leadership techniques from the tested Japanese business models, from Toyota to Nintendo.
Meaning Of Ikigai
The Japanese word “ikigai” means “a sense of purpose” and “cause for existence,” and the word’s origins can be traced back to the Okinawa region. It attracted medical experts due to its residents’ high survival rates. Ikigai is not a how-to guide. It’s a tranquil way of living that comes from within.
You certainly understand the importance of ikigai as a business owner. You began (or want to start) a business to live a life with more meaning rather than for fame and fortune. But you’re not here to ponder existential issues; instead, you’re working daily to improve your life and company.
Ikigai Method for Business
Finding balance in your life may seem impossible as an entrepreneur. Emails, pitch sessions, and putting out fires nonstop might make it seem like you’re falling off the balance beam rather than finding your core.
Ikigai, a company concept, is about your motivation. Why do you operate a business? Definitely, to make money. Yes, it’s noble to support your family and other people. But just because it covers the bills doesn’t mean you should start (or expand) a business.
To succeed, you need more drive than just money. To wake up every morning with the same passion for your business on day one and day 1,000, you must align the driving forces in your life.
Ikigai’s Four Circles
The 4 Circles of ikigai implementation for businesses:
- What skills do you have?
- What do you cherish?
- What is the demand on the market?
- How do you get that value out?
You’ll begin to identify some reoccurring trends after responding to these inquiries. Your passion, mission, profession, and vocation are the pillars of your why and where the circles intersect.
1. Passion: Your source of excitement and joy is passion. What pastimes, interests, or talents have others deemed you talented, and which ones excite you?
2. Mission: Your deep-seated human need to help others is your mission. What matters to you that helps others or satisfies their needs?
3. Vocation: Your industry, trade, or space is your vocation. Exists a need in the world that requires payment to be met?
4. Profession: Your profession is what you do for a living. Do you possess talents that others are willing to pay you for?
The four initial questions are merged into a centre. You have that goal. You are in business because of it. Your ikigai is in the middle.
Discover Your Purpose and Launch Your Business
- Your ikigai will support you in staying grounded through the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- Regardless of whether you are just starting, scaling a firm, or haven’t even come up with an idea yet.
- Draw out your ikigai diagram or turn it into the goal statement for your business.
- Every day, remind yourself of the reasons you get out of bed.
- You’ll need every last bit of ikigai to keep you focused wagon the why when the first email alert of the day goes out.
- Now that you know ikigai and how to use it in your company, it is time to launch and grow.