5 lessons learned from the Japanese philosophy Ikigai: The Secret to a Long and Happy Life

The Japanese believe everyone has an Ikigai – or a reason to live. In other words: a reason for being, the reason that gets you up first thing in the morning. 

Each person’s Ikigai can look very different, but discovering our raison d'être can change how we look at our lifestyle and guide us on how to make the most of the world around us.

To discover our Ikigai, we must ask ourselves the following questions:

·       What do I love doing?

·       What am I good at?

·       What does the world need?

·       What can I be paid for?

Finding our Ikigai  is by no means easy, and there’s no magic formula. It’s an iterative process that involves self-reflection, which can sometimes be uncomfortable. But if our pursuits fulfil the above criteria, we can be reassured that we are on the right path.

Lesson 1: The benefits of trying something new

Humans are naturally creatures of habit: once we find our rhythm, we stick to it. And why not? If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

In reality, switching up our habits has more benefits than we might think:

“A lack of mental exercise is bad for us because it causes our neurons to deteriorate – and, as a result, reduces our ability to react to our surroundings.” - Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

The brain is invigorated when presented with new information. Whilst you might consider making minor adjustments to your lifestyle – like learning a new musical instrument or picking up a hobby – it might also be time to consider a more significant change.

Take a look at your career path and ask yourself:

·       Does my career challenge me?

·       What does my day-to-day look like?

·       How long have I been doing the same thing?

It often takes a crisis (a pandemic, getting fired, burnout) for us to stop and rethink our current lifestyle. Financial Adviser Rachel Stewart found that her career lacked fulfilment after a 15-year stint in law: “I found myself sitting behind a desk often doing work for other people which I felt didn’t deliver a huge amount of purpose. It was easy to feel that I’d been put in a box and unable to spread my wings in this career.”

Rachel joined the St James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy in 2019 and now runs a successful financial advice business: “Starting my own business has completely changed my life. I am now content in all areas of my work and family life – it’s a great place to be.”

There are no set 'Ikigai careers'. It's a very personal thing. For Rachel, she is emotionally connected to her career and that is the key for her finding her life purpose, her Ikigai. 

Don’t wait for a crisis to try something new. Be proactive if you want to find your Ikigai.

Lesson 2: Stress is more?

Time and again, research tells us that too much stress is detrimental to both our physical and our mental well-being. However, it has been widely observed that a reasonable level of stress can be beneficial in developing healthy habits: “people who maintain low levels of stress, who face challenges and put their heart and soul into their work in order to succeed, live longer than those who choose a more relaxed lifestyle and retire earlier.” So, there is actually a healthy amount of stress that we should account for - a sweet spot. 

Think about your current career:

·       Does your work make you stressed?

·       Do you need more motivation?

·       Do you have a good work/life balance?

If you are finding yourself overly strained by your current job (it’s keeping you up at night or taking over your free time), it might be time to reflect on whether it’s truly worth it. Equally, if you feel like you are coasting, it might be time to move on to bigger and better challenges. Whilst high levels of stress are never advisable, it can also be equally damaging to your hedonic well being to remain in a role that lacks purpose, passion, or motivation.

Lesson 3: The Power of Flow

There is no set path to finding your Ikigai, but one key element is finding your ‘flow’. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow refers to the pleasure, delight, creativity, and process of being completely immersed in what we are doing.

“In order to achieve this optimal experience, we have to focus on the time we spend on activities that bring us to this state of flow” – García and Miralles.

Finding your flow often goes hand in hand with finding your ‘why’. Whatever this ‘why’ looks like, our work becomes more meaningful when we put this at the centre of our decision-making. Garcíaand Miralles offer three key strategies for finding your flow:

Choose a difficult task to complete that aligns with your abilities but still challenges you, for example public speaking. Enjoy the process of pushing yourself and being satisfied with your achievement.

Have a clear, concrete objective but don’t obsess over it. Use your goals as a compass to guide you rather than as a map to direct you.

Concentrate on a single task – in order to focus, we need to be in a distraction-free environment and to have control over what we are doing at every moment. To do two things at once is to do neither – contrary to popular belief, humans are not great multi-taskers.

Think of it like this:

·       What do I genuinely enjoy doing?

·       What tasks can I lose myself in?

·       What makes me feel engaged?

That is not to say we should completely abandon the more mundane activities to pursue deeper meaning. Csikszentmihalyi emphasises the importance of ‘microflow’, or the ability to turn routine into something we enjoy. We all must do such tasks, but the key is finding the right balance between flow and microflow – between the transactional activities and the transformational ones.

Lesson 4: Lean into your community

In Japanese culture, it is customary to form close bonds within local communities: working towards a common goal and leaning on each other in times of hardship.

“For many, serving the community becomes part of their Ikigai… the feeling of belonging and support gives the individual a sense of security and helps increase life expectancy.”

This community support can also apply to your career. When seeking a new business venture, or in times of career highs or lows, it is the people around us we lean on for support.

Jonny Shingles, who joined the Academy after a career in the Royal Air Force, shares his journey on starting his own practice: “If you have the support of knowledgeable people and an established brand with great resources, you get a head start.”

Jonny’s client base is also a diverse mix of his own contacts, including those from the Air Force. Without the support of his community – both within SJP and beyond – Jonny’s business would not be where it is today.

Lesson 5: The need for antifragility

No matter your career, you will undoubtedly come up against difficult moments – it is how we deal with these moments that defines who we are.

Nana korobi ya oki 七転び八起き

Fall seven times, rise eight.

                                    -Japanese Proverb

Adapting and focusing on the things you can control – rather than worrying about the things you can’t – is key to leading successful career. However, there is also resilience in antifragility: in other words, eliminating the things in our life which make us weak in the first place.

“Antifragility is beyond resilience. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”

To make yourself antifragile, follow these steps:

1)     Create more options for yourself

2)    Bet conservatively in certain areas and take many small risks in others

3)   Get rid of things that make you fragile – it’s great to take on new challenges but setting ‘good riddance’ goals can have a more significant impact.

Finding your Ikigai career path 

So, what is your Ikigai?

The Japanese concept is strongly linked to your career path. If you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s okay. Our personal Ikigai is our passion. A unique talent that brings meaning to your day-to-day and helps you to achieve your goals. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but the closer you get to feeling Ikigai, the longer – and happier – your career will be. 

To recap: 

·       What do I love doing?

·       What am I good at?

·       What does the world need?

·       What can I be paid for?

·       Does my career challenge me?

·       What does my day-to-day look like?

·       How long have I been doing the same thing?

·       What do I genuinely enjoy doing?

·       What tasks can I lose myself in?

·       What makes me feel engaged?

·       Does my work make me stressed?

·       Do I need more motivation?

·       Do I have a good work/life balance?

Interested in reading more about the Japanese concept of Ikigai? Click here