Ikigai - Find Your Life's Purpose: Work For a Purpose, Not Just a Paycheck
You spend 1/3 of your life working, do you want to live for a purpose or just a paycheck? What drives you (beyond money) to want to do well? What type of work lets you reach a “flow state”, where you get so engaged that hours fly by? If work is ever a slow grind where days just drag on, you’re likely disengaged with your work and not living our your life’s purpose.
Many Americans lack feeling a deep sense of purpose in the work they do or feel the work they do doesn’t fully leverage their best skills. For young families, doing work that doesn’t align with your life’s purpose can diminish your spirit and lead to burnout more quickly. Living your life’s purpose is good for your well being. Not doing so can impact your ability to be the best parent, friend, or spouse that you can be. You work your 9 to 5 job to put food on the table but are you thriving or just surviving?
So how do you find your life’s purpose? Let me introduce you to “Ikigai”.
What is Ikigai?
Ikigai is a 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. It’s deeper than money or job status. We are all programmed to think that our lives revolve around what we do for a living and how successful we are, but does that really bring you happiness? Find work that meets your needs as a person, not just your ego’s needs.
Don’t just fall into the work you do like many people, intentionally choose work that leaves you challenged but ultimately happy and fulfilled. By doing so, you’ll have enough money, live a more balanced healthier life because you’re less stressed, more engaged, more inspired, and living for a purpose, not just a paycheck.
What are the 4 Key Components of Ikigai?
Ikigai is a combination of four key components. According to Ikigai, you’ve found the recipe for a fulfilling sustainable career (& life) when you’re able to find work that meets these four factors:
Find work that offers these 4 qualities:
What you love
What you’re good at
What you can be paid for
What the world needs
This diagram provides a powerful mental framework you can use to reflect on what your “Ikigai” (i.e. Life’s Purpose) might be. Does your current job meet all 4 components? If not, what type of work would?
Photo Credit: Source
What’s at Stake?
You’ve got decades of work ahead of you and only one life to live. Wouldn’t you be a lot happier if it was doing something that hit all four of these pillars?
In this day and age, you don’t have to follow one path, the path you took in college, and stay in that career for the rest of your life. It’s easier than ever to do what you love, while helping the world, making good money, and doing something that you care about.
So, what’s at stake? Your physical health, mental health, relationships, and potentially even your marriage are at stake. When you’re doing something you love, you’re more likely to be happy in life. If not, you will just drudge through your days and miss out on life’s opportunities.
How to Find your Life’s Purpose
Once you dig deep and realize what you’re doing now isn’t what makes you happy, how do you switch gears?
If you have a young family, you may feel stuck. You have to provide for them, so this isn’t a time to soul search, right?
Wrong.
There are ways and the easiest is to start side hustles. It may not be easy but nothing worthwhile ever is. Try things out while you stay at your ‘secure’ full-time job. This way you have money coming in, but you’re trying your hand at things you think you might like.
If there’s a career you want to pursue that requires more schooling, go back to school while you’re at your job. There are plenty of ways to do this whether you attend at night or attend school online (there are thousands of possibilities for this).
Keep trying things until you find what you love and find a way to succeed at it.
How Ikigai Relates to Financial Planning
Financial planning and your life’s vision go hand-in-hand. Your financial adviser should help you use your money in a way that aligns with your life’s goals. An adviser is not only a brainstorming partner for life changes, they can help you prepare for those life changes when (not if) they happen. Some examples include:
Career change – You’ll need to make sure you have plenty of money saved to carry your family through the change. For example, if you must go back to school, you’ll need a savings and spending plan. If you’ll lose your company health insurance, you’ll need to figure out how to protect your family.
Job change – Things change like your income, employee benefits, retirement savings options available to you, rolling over old retirement plans, where you live, how your expenses change from one job to the next, amount of cash reserves needed if your job security is lower, and more. You’ll need to assess how all these impact you now and in the future.
Starting a business – Anyone can start a business, but first, you’ll need a business plan, a well-funded emergency fund, insurance, and plenty of capital to get the business up and running. This gets more complicated to navigate when you’re a young family who have others depending on you.
Having kids – If you want to expand your family (starting out or having more kids), think about college savings plans, emergency funds, and your overall financial goals. Will you have to change how much you save or spend to make sure you can cover your family’s expenses? Will one spouse stop working? How much can we afford to pay for our kid’s college without derailing our own financial goals like retirement, travel, or a more comfortable home?
One parent staying home – If one parent wants to change to staying home versus working, assess your financial plan. What habits must you change so that you have enough money saved for college, retirement, and emergencies? Does that spouse cover the insurance? Who contributes to what retirement plans or investment accounts?
Aligning with your spouse - A financial planner provides a space for you and your spouse to get on the same page financially and with one another’s life goals so that you’re both working together toward a shared life vision.
Quitting your ‘high income job’ to do your life’s passion – Sometimes you just need to quit the rat race and do what you love. If what you love to do doesn’t pay as well, financial planning will be important to ensure you and your family can navigate this change carefully to maintain financial security (now and in the future).
Final Thoughts
Work for a purpose, not just a paycheck. The diagram shared shared above is a powerful exercise you can use to brainstorm on what your “Ikigai” might be. Before you make major life changes, just must make sure you’ve thought of everything financially. Young families have a lot of time to make changes in their lives but consider how the changes will affect your ability to meet your financial goals, spending and savings plans, tax brackets, college savings, retirement, and insurance needs before making major changes in your life.
If finding Ikigai is important to you, a financial planner can help your family financially navigate & prepare for life changes. We want to free you from worrying about money so you can focus on living out your life’s purpose (or simply, spending more time doing what you do best).
Schedule a free 30 minute introductory call with me here
Together we can explore “you” in a way that’s deeper than dollars and cents, and start a conversation to get you and your partner on the same page financially. I’m here to help you reach your financial goals so you can live an epic life today, while still being on track for tomorrow.
Jonathan Grannick, CFP®
Wonder Wealth LLC
San Diego Financial Advisor | Fee-only Fiduciary
Disclosure:
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