You can’t wait for motivation because it may never come.
You can’t wait for the right moment because there will never be one.
You can’t wait until you’re ready because you will always find something you need to do first.
There is only now, the future doesn’t exist, and the past is dead.
What are you waiting for? Go out and grab it!
Humans only live ~70 years. Your life doesn’t really start until you’re 20, leaving 50 years to achieve your dreams.
Why wait any longer than you have to?
Motivation comes as a byproduct of enjoying the process. If you enjoy and are passionate about what you do, then you will find motivation; until then, you cannot expect consistent inspiration.
You have to get yourself up and push towards what you want.
Finding your purpose is critical to your success in life. Once you know this, everything else falls into place. At that point, all that is left is to follow the blueprint.
The concept of a life purpose has been called a variety of different things.
Life Goal
Purpose
Personal Mission
Life Task
However, the best way that I have heard this expressed comes from the Japanese word “Ikigai,” meaning “reason to live.”
Your Ikigai comes at the crossroads of 4 different parts of your life. To determine what these are, you can ask yourself these 4 questions.
What do I love doing?
What am I good at doing?
What can I be paid for?
What does the world need?
As you can see in the graphic, the intersection of these different areas can determine several different parts of your life, like your passion and career, but it is the center of all 4 of these questions that determines your Ikigai.
This Is My Ikigai
I love writing, improving myself through learning and being creative.
I’m good at writing and synthesizing information in a way that’s easy to understand.
I can be paid for my writing and helping other people learn.
The world needs more quality educators and people who can get their ideas across clearly.
My Passion is writing and self-improvement.
My Profession is being a writer and educator.
My Vocation is helping others learn. (I had a strong pull towards becoming a teacher, but I ultimately decided against it.)
My Mission is to help people better themselves and become better communicators.
Therefore, my Ikigai aims to educate and improve people’s lives through my writing.
The more I think about it, the more I know this to be true. The Ikigai is the best practical method that I have come across to help someone discover their life purpose. It is a crucial exercise for everyone. Human beings are so much more filled when they know their Ikigai and make progress towards it, even if just a little bit.
Since I have discovered my Ikigai, motivation has rarely been a problem for me. When you know exactly what you want, you can make a plan to get there and move accordingly. Every choice and action is made out of several questions.
Who is involved?
When will I do it?
What will I do?
Where will I do it?
Why will I do it?
How will I do it?
When you know your Ikigai, you only have to worry about the when, where, and how. You already know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and who you’re doing it for. That clarity makes it much easier to take action and make progress towards your goals.
The fewer obstacles in your way, the more likely you are to take action toward your goals.
I urge everyone to try to find their Ikigai/ life purpose; however, if you are having difficulty with the Ikigai method, I have one additional piece of advice for you.
Read Mastery by Robert Greene
I have heralded this book more times than I care to remember. I consider it to be a “must-read” for every single human being on the planet. We need to travel back in time and give it to the cavemen. Everyone needs to read it.
One of the main principles of the book is the importance of finding and following your “life task” (notice I mentioned it above.) While I do not believe Greene mentions Ikigai directly in this book, it is basically the same concept. (He mentions Ikigai in his later book, “The Laws of Human Nature,” making it likely that it served as inspiration in “Mastery.”)
The book goes in-depth into multiple ways that you can discover your life task while also providing historical examples. It also goes into multiple other topics, making it a great read in general, regardless of whether you know your life goal or not.
Wrap-up
Everyone has a purpose in life, something they would be willing to dedicate their lives to and find great fulfillment in. Your Ikigai will give you the direction and purpose in life that everyone is searching for. It is just up to you to find it.
Thankfully, the Ikigai method can help you with this. Discovering your life task will make your life far better than what it was before.
Finding your Ikigai is another step on the path towards perfection.
Thank you so much for reading!
So if you really like the article feel free to show it!