Zeroing In on Purpose
Defining your Ikigai in practical terms
Like you, I’m a human on a quest to make my one golden ticket count. I believe in infinite self-kaizen, a commitment to living a bespoke and optimized life by compassionately reflecting on each day’s outcomes carve away what didn’t serve my higher purpose and make more room for what does.
We need to grab our ikigai at its roots and pull to get it in motion in real life.
In order to do this continual pruning, we need clarity on what we are seeking to build or leave behind when we die. Our purpose can only be defined by us, based on our unique inner drivers and feelings. The Japanese word “ikigai” is a useful label for speaking of this carefully-defined greater purpose. We can only get clear on what to keep and what to carve away from our daily habits when we are clear on our ikigai. Because time is the ultimate limiting factor in all that we do, our ikigai cannot be a long list driving us in different directions. We MUST make choices and get black-and-white clear on a very narrow set of goals that matter at our absolute core and must happen before we die. Our ikigai has nothing to do with managing, pleasing, or dispassionately participating.
If there is not some visible evidence that we are living out our purpose in the way we let our ‘every-days’ unfold, we are at risk of flowing down a purposeless river carried by time. We must be conscious about where we let time take us. And one practical point I’ve learned in my continual reflection on doing what works is this: if it matters, it must happen first in every day.
As time is the only resource that cannot be regenerated, ikigai also must be implemented into every day. If there is not some visible evidence that we are living out our purpose in the way we let our every-days unfold, we are at risk of flowing down a purposeless river carried by time. We must be conscious about where we let time take us. And one practical point I’ve learned in my continual reflection on what works is this: if it matters, it must happen first in every day. Even if wake-up time must be hours before others way, the only practice that works for me, is inserting what matters to me into the day before chaos elsewhere hijacks my plans. As you test what works for you, you may find other ways of pile-driving your purpose into your days. But keep in mind this need to see visible evidence of your purpose in action every day. Even if only for a few minutes.
We need to grab our ikigai at its roots and PULL to get it in motion in real life. So we need to reflect, define, write down and REVIEW our definition of purpose daily. I’ll share with you how I do this, and maybe it will help you get started IN REAL LIFE.
(MY IKIGAI, Macro: run more tests… PRACTICAL… my daily item… PRINTED in a visible place where I see it daily: refrig & journal… you pick yours… other ideas – car, keychain, coffee mug, bath towel, pillow, framed item, screen saver… and more.)
Link to “TOTEMS”…
