A Whackadoodle World Tidbit: How to find your ikigai (Part Two)
For those of you who want to follow my student's example and discover your ikigai. You do know that you have an ikigai, don't you?
Okay, so to catch you up, my student dropped by the other day complaining that she often felt like she was getting nowhere, and doing things simply because she was expected to, not because she wanted to. I found this unacceptable, so I suggested a series of exercises to help her design a purposeful life. The French call it our raison d'être. The Japanese call it our ikigai. We Americans call it living with purpose.
If you’ve already read the post about our meeting yesterday, you know what to do with the list of prompt questions below. If you haven’t read it, you’ll have no idea how to use this list, so I suggest you take a look. In addition to getting part one of the assignment for finding your ikigai, you will learn a few fun words and find a skookum banana bread recipe. Here’s the link:
Guidepost Fourteen: The Power of Indirect Effort (Aka Episode 57)
Three new Whackadoodle words, one family recipe, and a skookum exercise for finding your ikigai. You didn't even know that you had an ikigai, did you? (Part One of Four)
And Now:
If you have read the previous article and have decided to follow my student’s example, your second set of prompt questions lies below. They should help you uncover your answers to the second major ikigai question: What are you good at?
What are you good at?
What empowers you?
What comes to you naturally?
What were you good at as a child?
What compliments do you tend to ignore?
What skills have helped you thrive or overcome hurdles?
What skills do you spend time practicing?
What do people approach you for help with?
Have you ever won an award?
What skills do you list on your resume?
Is there something you would like to be good at?
To what activities have you ever devoted over 100 hours practicing or learning?
If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
What skills or talents come naturally to you?
What do you excel at even when you are not trying?
What makes you feel good about yourself?
What do other people compliment you about?
What achievements are you proud of?
Do you get excited about developing your skills in this area further?
What parts of your current job come to you easily?
In what activity do you excel in your social circle, workplace, or community?
With some more education and experience, could you be among the best at what you do?
I will be posting the third set of prompts tomorrow. Until then, have some fun bragging to yourself. Nobody else needs to know.