What is your purpose?

4 years ago, I was working at a corporate job which I didn’t particularly love, and spent a lot of time wondering what my purpose was. That’s when I came across the Japanese concept of Ikigai. 

What’s Ikigai you ask? It roughly translates to ‘reason for being’. The concept helps with finding the sweet spot between your passion, what you can get paid for, what the world needs and what you are also good at, and this is something that really helped me figure out my career path. 

If you’re sailing a similar boat as I was a few years ago, let me help you get a step closer to figuring out your career sweet spot.

Here are the key questions you need to think about: 

1. Your Passion - What do you LOVE doing?

Try to think about things that you love doing so much that you lose track of time. What do you typically enjoy doing during your leisure time? What do your friends/family think you’re passionate about?

2. What are you GOOD at?

What are things that your friends usually reach out to you to help them with? What are things that come easily to you? What subjects did you excel in school/college?

3. What can you be PAID for?

What is your current source of income? Keeping all your skills and interests in mind, what are the ways in which you can make money? What do you love doing that you can get paid for? (Do some research here, I honestly didn’t think I could make as much money being a YouTuber but that’s not true at all!)

4. What does the world NEED?

Try to think of where you think the world will be in 10 years and what skills will be important then. What are some causes that you’re passionate about and how do you see yourself helping that cause? Are there any problems you’ve identified that you think you may be able to solve?

I read the book Ikigai a few months after I started YouTubing and it made me realise how YouTube and building a career on social media is my Ikigai!

Sometime this week, take out an hour and just try to introspect on these four questions. I’m sure you’ll find this exercise quite insightful :)

I also created a worksheet which you can download and use. Hope this helps you on your journey of self discovery!