Ikigai: Overcome Doubt and Living a Happy Life

Thanks for this post. I've seen the Ikigai diagram before and I think it's overcomplicated. I generally like to remove "what the worlds needs" in the venn diagram and focus on on "love", "good at", "paid" for a few reasons:

1. It's hard enough figuring out life with those 3 criteria. Adding a 4 over-complicates things... too many venn diagram intersections.
2. Adding "what the world needs" yields certain venn diagram areas that don't make sense. For example, vocation doesn't mean you can't be good at it. Same with mission... you can absolute have a mission and be good at it and get paid. You can love your profession. And I know many people who intersect love/good/paid and feel very fulfilled. These definitions are being forced by the diagram and don't really make sense.
3. For many people "what the world needs" is a luxury... the tip of Maslow's hierarchy pyramid. Most people need help with the rest of the pyramid.
4. "What the world needs" is subjective and often a matter of opinion. Does the world need another doctor? Another research academic? Another artist? Eh... maybe, but probably not. But if you can intersect love/good/paid, then you're probably having an amazing life. And love/good/paid are much more concrete ... you probably know with reasonable certainty whether these areas are true for you.

I'm not saying that "what the world needs" isn't important and that you shouldn't think about it. You should. I just think that removing it makes a better, more insightful and more useful mental model.

Anyway, still a good article and worth thinking about. Thanks for sharing!