What drives you?
This concept of ikigai
(translated as “life-value”) has been on my mind recently. It can be thought of
as one’s reason to get up in the morning. It’s where we find value and purpose.
It can be expressed visually in the diagram here, produced by the Toronto Star.
Right at the center of 4 key concepts lies our ikigai.
That which you are good at.
That which you love.
That which the world needs.
That which you can get paid for.
I’d like to consider how I think our own
culture embraces this idea and ways it does not...yet.
That
which you are good at.
Do we DO what we WANT to do or what we think
we SHOULD do? My oldest sister passed away recently. At face value, she didn’t
have much. She relied on social services and eked out a living many others
would find difficult. However, she was very content with her decisions and I am
so glad and grateful to learn this.
She raised her son, encouraging him to explore
and get messy at times. She worked with and taught children for a number of
years, focusing on the children’s interests and abilities and sharing her own
style. She designed and worked in elaborate Halloween displays that many
enjoyed. Later, she found value in volunteering at her nursing home. She built
things. She helped other residents. She befriended many people over her 69 year
lifetime, letting her spirit be what it wanted to be. It was a beautiful thing.
People will remember her, for sure.
That
which you love.
I absolutely love to write. I’ve been focused
almost exclusively on nonfiction essays for the last couple of years, but I
have many stories in my mind that I play around with when I have time. Writing
this blog has been scary but so enjoyable. Talking with people about writing
ideas and researching possible topics have eaten up many enjoyable hours. It
has all allowed me to grow in terms of knowing myself and understanding the
world more clearly. I feel driven to share my discoveries and remaining
questions. I am so glad and grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to do and feel
this.
There’s the rub. How many people have this
kind of opportunity? Many people are forced to operate with only one goal:
survival. Why? We need to consider what our systems encourage.
That
which the world needs.
Do we feel safe enough and encouraged to do
what the world needs? The recent scandal involving youtuber Logan Paul’s
disgusting choices of behavior while in Japan demonstrate a response to what
the world WANTS. He did what he did because he’s been trained to get paid for
his destructive behaviors. There are many other examples today.
The world needs small-town people like my
sister. We also need big-picture inspirers. The world needs risk-takers and
connectors. It needs spirits that question and pose challenges to do and be
more. It needs positive, perhaps offbeat humor and humble caring. Do we
encourage these types of behavior? I don’t think so. Many want to cling to the
status quo. Many are scared to stand out. Many cluster in homogeneous groups,
finding the safety of anonymity a better choice than trying to do or be
something else.
The Logan Paul example leads to the last part
of ikigai. Along with seeking to behave in ways the world needs, we as a group
must also financially incentivize what the world needs, not what it wants.
That
which you can get paid for.
The unemployment rate may be really low, but
when an announcement by Walmart boosting they will raise their base pay to $11
an hour is followed immediately by news that their subsidiary, Sam’s Clubs, is
closing several stores, one is left wondering about the worth of that
statistic. As reported January 11 in the Patch article Sam's Club Abruptly Close Wisconsin Stores,
“After a thorough review of our existing portfolio, we've decided to close a
series of clubs and better align our locations with our strategy." This
appears to be another example of a corporation adjusting their strategies to
maximize profits, despite the billions of tax cuts (on top of billions of
earnings previously reported) they have just received from the current
administration.
Capitalism does not need to be like this. Even
some millionaires have stated they want things
to be different, as reported by The Hill in November 2017. Corporations are
products of people’s work. If the people work from a mindset of moderation and
for the benefit of all customers (fellow people), laws and behaviors will
evolve accordingly.
This
concept of life-value is already deeply ingrained in our world.
The United States Declaration of Independence
describes 3 inalienable rights (rights we are unable to give up, even if we’d
want to). Today, we have advanced enough (or should have) so that document’s
definition of “Man” now truly includes EVERYONE. Not surprisingly, all of these
rights support this notion of ikigai,
or life-value:
Life: That which you can get
paid for. That which the world needs.
Liberty: That which you are
good at. That which the world needs.
The Pursuit of Happiness: That
which you love. That which the world needs.
Please note that the ikigai concept of “That which the world needs” applies to all 3
parts of our inalienable rights. Why? Because we have both a personal and
public side to our 3 rights. For example, if I love to write, I have an
obligation to the world to write something that will help and not harm the
world.
We ALL have the right to have a life we value
and which is valued by a bigger whole. If we can get closer to living the 4
statements I started this essay with, it is possible for more and more people.
I repeat: it’s hard, but not impossible. We must ask ourselves what are steps
we can take today and moving forward to help us get there.
