IKIGAI (FLOW, PERFECTION AND EXCELLENCE)

BLOG 6: IKIGAI (FLOW, PERFECTION AND EXCELLENCE)

Can we really do a bonding between vocation and avocation? If the answer is yes, then it even poses a greater question for us-“For how long?”I personally believe that they hold a surreal relationship may be like a couple who fights a lot but again wants to live their entire life together. And yes, our lives thrive when there is harmony between the two. In Japanese culture, that sweet spot is known as “Ikigai”. It embodies the idea of happiness in living and it is the reason why we get up in the morning to go office, work for next 12 hours and still return home buying Cadbury for our sweet loving mother. Thus, it is associated with a Venn diagram with four overlapping qualities: what we love, what we are good at, what the world needs, and what we can be paid for. The fundamental drivers of our work outcome are learning, growth and development and the fundamental drivers of our life are purpose and meaning, and when these drivers fall into unison, people tend to do extraordinary things. This correlates to what Abraham Maslow in 1960 described in his theory of peak experiences, that ordinary people may undergo genuine peaks in the seemingly most commonplace events and surroundings. In our IDIO class madam spoke about flow where we identify our strengths and work accordingly, we even ask question like” What should I do?” “Where do I belong?” in this phase. We then direct our strengths towards perfection with practice and effort and finally reach to the state of excellence. People may want to become a travel blogger, painter, or professional photographer or if our imagination soars high enough we can even dream of becoming a kung fu monk. But then at the end when we find ourselves hiding behind an office desk reluctantly showing the job title of a goddam analyst we don’t feel so good. Thus we need to be job crafters, bringing a mind and behavioural shift and adding more positivity to the situation. Job crafting helps to make our job more engaging and fulfilling. We can link that with Kramer’s progress theory which states that people are motivated by taking steps forward on a consistent basis even if those steps are relatively small in the big picture. By feeling like we are consistently making progress, we are more likely to remain engaged and motivated towards achieving even bigger goals. Our teacher emphasised in reading books like “Managing Oneself” by Peter Drucker and “Man search for Meaning” by Victor Frankl to enhance the understanding of the topic.