What’s your purpose?
You already know.
You’re living it in every moment and bringing it into everything you do. Each day you wake up, you’re inherently in your purpose.
The problem?
Articulating it into something that’s tangible – something you’ll be able to tell others in your elevator pitch after the question “what do you do” is asked, yet again.
In order to truly live your purpose, you must first have a solid foundation of what you stand for, where your values lie, and what your true motivations are.
Whether you have multiple passions or are striving towards one thing, your purpose can be something you’re able to articulately measure or answer in a single sentence.
To understand this purpose, however, we must first understand our Ikigai.
Ikigai is your reason for being. That one thing we’re all searching for – the meaning behind what it is we do and why we do it. Ikigai comes from the Okinawan culture with “iki” referring to “life” and “gai” to “reason”. Narrowing in on this purpose comes from a sense of inner knowing into what ultimately motivates your life’s work.
Your Ikigai is at the center of the intersection between your mission, vocation, profession, and passion.
Mission: What you love
Your mission is all about what lights you up. It’s what makes you want to wake up every morning and can even be traced back to what you enjoyed as a child. Whether it’s painting, writing, creating community, spending time with friends and family: your mission is centered around what you love to do.
Vocation: What the world needs
Your vocation is the impact you want to make on your community. It’s injustices or changes you see that need to be addressed and how you can best contribute to that change. What you have to offer to the world is your gifts that only you can contribute. This is your vocation.
Profession: What you can get paid for
Your profession in Ikigai is all about the ability to secure an income for yourself. It may be something you’re already doing such as selling offerings, courses, or a product. You have to ask yourself how you can best support yourself while you’re living out your purpose. This is your profession.
Passion: What you’re good at
Your passion is slightly different from your mission because it’s centered around any skills or training you have. The key to these skills, though, is that you must have a passion for them to be sustainable. They have to also light you up when you’re working your center stage. You don’t need a fancy degree to pinpoint what you’re good at. Ask those you’re close to what they’d go to you for if they needed you or just take a look around and see where you’re helping people the most.
Leveraging Your Ikigai
After you’ve found your Ikigai, it’s time to piece it all together. The best way to build your Ikigai is by developing a personal brand.
Your personal brand is an imitation of your purpose. It doesn’t have to be spelled out in all the right words: you can demonstrate your purpose without saying what exactly it is. A personal brand can lay out all your offerings, ideas, and dreams through the core message that emanates throughout all of your work.
To get the most out of your personal brand, we created a downloadable Brand Plan to flesh out your ideas and narrow in on your core purpose that drives everything attributed to your personal brand, using Ikigai! Get your copy here for the ultimate brand clarity.
