IKIGAI in green guidance
An adapted IKIGAI approach that begins by exploring the needs of the world, before connecting them with the individual’s talents, interests, and opportunities. This guide offers example questions for use in interviews or workshops, supporting clients in shifting perspective and discovering meaningful connections.
Inspiration for the tool
Adapted IKIGAI method to include the sustainability dimension
Rationale: Why is this needed?
Clients often enter career guidance with a focus on their personal goals, which is a natural starting point. Exploring how their work connects with wider communities and the environment can open up new perspectives. By considering both their individual strengths and the needs of the world around them, clients can be supported in making choices that are personally meaningful and socially or environmentally sustainable.
Objectives
After completing the activity, participants will
- be able to answer questions related to their own abilities and interests and seek the intersection with what they can be paid for and the needs of the world
- reflect on a meaningful career connected to their needs and to the world
Resources needed
- Worksheet with the IKIGAI diagram
- List of questions
- Paper, pen
Activities
1. Introduction:
Before starting, explain the purpose of the activity:
- To take a moment to reflect on your life direction in connection with your values, needs, and the needs of the world around you.
- To explore what work means to you—not just as a source of income, but also as a way to find meaning, dignity, and contribute to yourself and others.
- To imagine how you might contribute to a more sustainable and fair society in the future.
2. Explaining the concept of IKIGAI:
Ikigai is a Japanese term that can be translated as a reason for being, the meaning of what gives us joy in life. Living in accordance with one’s Ikigai means becoming the owner and author of one’s life and achieving the best that you want, for yourself and for the planet.
The concept of Ikigai comes from the culture of Okinawa in southern Japan, in the Ryū-Kyū archipelago. Okinawans are known for their longevity, which is attributed to their diet and their stress-free lifestyle. The term Ikigai refers to the meaning of life and includes the idea of well-being, joy of life, a sense of family, and respect for others. Ikigai comes from the words iki: “life” and kai: “benefit, value, result, fruit,” and translates to “reason for being.” It is “a broad term referring to what brings value and joy to life: from people like children or friends to activities, including work and hobbies.”
Source: https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/03/ikigai_japanese_secret_to_a_joyful_life.html
Finding your Ikigai is a process that requires reflection in several stages. The goal is to be authentic and ask real questions, even if they are sometimes difficult. At the same time, it’s necessary to respect that this can be a longer-term or recurring process, as various new factors can influence it over time.
3. Conversation around IKIGAI areas
The career development professional guides the client or student in a conversation through four key areas, using some of the questions that are described at the end of this activity:
- What does the world need?
- What do you love?
- What are you good at?
- What can you be paid for?
4. Formulation of IKIGAI
Based on the written answers, the counsellor and the client work together to identify meaningful connections between the different areas. They explore how the client’s passions, skills, values, and awareness of the world’s needs intersect—and use this to help the client articulate their IKIGAI. This final formulation can take many forms, depending on the person. It might describe a job or role, a mission, a project, or even a way of living and contributing. The key is that it feels authentic and aligned with both the client’s inner self and the outer world.
Examples of formulations related to IKIGAI:
- “To prepare healthy, affordable meals that reduce food waste and support local producers.”
- “To take care of others with patience and respect, while helping them live with dignity.”
- “To keep buildings warm and energy-efficient while protecting tenants’ comfort and dignity.”
- “To help everyday people make informed financial decisions that improve their lives without putting them in debt.”
Group Version of the Activity:
Steps 1 and 2 are the same as in the individual version.
3. Individual reflection:
Each participant answers in writing the 2–3 selected questions from each of the four IKIGAI areas. This is done individually and introspectively.
4. Symbolic object sharing in small groups:
Each participant selects a card or object that symbolizes or relates to their answers (the facilitator can prepare pieces of LEGO or other small objects). In small groups of 3–4 people, participants take turns presenting their object and reflecting on how it connects to the different IKIGAI areas.
5. Integration and naming one’s IKIGAI:
After the small group work, each participant returns to their personal notes and reflects further. They attempt to define their own IKIGAI – the intersection of the four IKIGAI circles.
This can take various forms:
– a job title or profession
– a work environment or role
– a mission or life purpose
– a project or business idea
– a vision for balancing work and life
– a way of relating to others, to nature, or to the world’s needs
6. Whole group sharing:
Participants come back together to discuss their experience. They can reflect on:
– whether the questions were easy or difficult to answer
– whether they were able to formulate their IKIGAI
– and, if they wish, share their own IKIGAI formulation with the group
Final Reflection (for both individual and group versions):
Invite participants to consider these closing questions:
- What ideas or thoughts resonated with me today?
- What did I learn or realize?
- What do I see differently?
- What do I still want to explore or find out?
Extension activities:
In the next step, the activity can be expanded with action planning, for example, with the following questions:
- In your current situation, how close are you to your IKIGAI (from 1 to 10) and its individual components? What reasons explain this number?
- What steps will you take to move closer to your IKIGAI… in the next 24 hours? In the next 7 days? In the next month?
- If you continue this path, how specifically will you see that you are honouring your life principles and your commitment?
- What criteria would the world/planet use to evaluate your career, your “success,” your “career growth”?
LIST OF QUESTIONS:
What does the world need?
- Let’s think about what the current world lacks or what we need to change.
- What are the problems/challenges of the world that affect you on an emotional level?
- What problems (of the world, society, community…) would you like to help solve?
- What values have you inherited (from your family, from your educators…) and are you proud of them? What values do you want to pass on next generations?
- What change would you like to bring to this world?
- What mark do you want to leave on this planet?
- What companies, job opportunities on the labour market, business ideas can be related to this? Where can you find them?
What do you like/enjoy?
- Imagine why you want to get up in the morning. What do you think is a good start to the day? List everything that comes to mind: in both your personal and professional life.
- What makes you feel like you are living life to the fullest?
- What if you no longer had to worry about money and were sure that you could not fail?
- What professions did you dream of as a child?
- What brings you joy? What activities give you energy? What resonates with you? When have you been positively touched and felt positive emotions and joy? Think of one specific situation, activity, role or project in which you were involved (in your work or personal life): What fulfilled you in this situation? Try to find the qualities that were the “essence” of this situation. For example, behind the activity “tourism” there may be the essence of search, challenge, achievement. Who did you do this activity with? Who did this activity benefit? What needs of the world did it respond to?
What are you good at?
- Let’s summarize what you’re good at, what your abilities, skills, and talents are.
- What skills and talents do your loved ones see in you?
- Think about the different roles you play in your life: child…, friend, colleague, life partner, neighbor, member of an association, sports club… Think about the moments when you experienced a sense of success, satisfaction (it can be something small): thanks to what skills or qualities did you succeed?
- What are 6 events that explain why you are who you are today? What skills, values, strengths can these refer to?
- Who are the people you admire and why? What do they say about you?
- What are your talents that can contribute to the common good?
What you can be paid for?
- Let’s look at the opportunities that financial and non-financial resources bring into your life
- What activities have you been or could be paid for?
- How could your abilities/skills/experience/talents be financially valued in your professional life?
- What possibilities does it open for you?
- Do you see any possibilities to slow down, change your pace of life, find other sources of income?
- Quote: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” – Dalai Lama