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TODAY’S THOUGHTS ☠️

Hey there 👋,

We’re switching gears this week, folks, because our last conversation was very AI-heavy.

As we both know, there’s more to life and learning than tech.

This newsletter has always served as a space for me to unpack not only technology but philosophies that could serve our curiosity and learning journey. I’m a forever student of human development, and a part of that journey comes with big questions.

One of those questions is finding meaning.

Like, what is this whole existence thing about?

I’m of the opinion that having meaning in life is more important than happiness. Mainly because happiness is an emotional state, one that is fleeting and cannot be sustained, whereas meaning is something that drives us, gives us a sense of being and will more likely provide the moments of happiness we seek.

This, of course, is not an easy thing to just find.

I like to explore the different cultures of our world to understand how people are approaching human development, wellbeing and learning.

One of these journeys led me to a part of our planet I have a long history with and continues to teach me much, and that’s Japan.

The land of the Rising Sun introduced me to one of the most useful tools for both career development and uncovering that elusive ‘meaning’.

And that’s what we’re going to explore today.

So, in today’s conversation, we’re exploring the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai and how you could use it to define your meaning and craft your best career.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

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THE BIG THOUGHT 👀

Just so we’re all clear: These views, opinions and interpretations are all of my own. I’m not saying they are right for you, but I hope you find some value from them to guide you through this crazy thing we call life.

I’m no expert, and I’m only sharing what I’ve experienced, so it’s my truth, not THE truth, folks.

It’s not a trick question, think about it for a moment…

And don’t just say “because I need to earn money to stay alive” – we all need that, but that’s not why we get up.

Struggling to find the answer? Don’t worry, most of us do!

Meaning is an important thing.

It’s not something many of us probably tend to reflect on often. We are so wrapped up in our own world that it can be difficult to see what we are doing it all for. Of course, reflecting on thoughts like this can be scary as shit, so I understand why so many divert from doing this.

But nonetheless, we all want meaning, we all want to feel like we are doing something or working towards something at least.

This is more reflective in our society than ever before. We often see stories about people ditching the 9-5 to pursue passion projects, whilst others try to automate everything with AI in the hopes of sitting on a beach and doing nothing.

That last one sounds pretty boring and meaningless to me, but each to their own.

We are all looking for meaning.

I’ve spent my life trying to understand mine, and what’s surprised me is that it’s always changing.

So, the question is – how do you find this?

Ok, so we know that we are all looking for meaning.

But how do we find it? Do we embark on a meditation spree to wait for the mind to have a eureka moment? Or is it like catching a wild Pokémon, where we run around urban areas with our phones out, shouting, “It’s over there!”?

Sadly, the answer to both of those is no.

What we need is a guide that will help us discover what it is that gives us meaning.

And it’s this that I might just have for you.

Let me introduce you to a beautiful Japanese concept called Ikigai.

Essentially, Ikigai translates to ‘a reason for being’ in English. It’s not a new concept, it has long existed in Japan and has more recently been getting exposure in the Western world.

Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is made of two Japanese words: iki, which means “life”, and Kai, which has a number of meanings, but for the purpose of this word, it translates to “meaning the realisation of hopes and expectations.”

Put together “a reason for living”.

In the culture of Okinawa, (a small Japanese island where Ikigai is believed to have its origins), Ikigai is thought of as “a reason to get up in the morning” – a reason to enjoy life.

It’s important to note that everyone’s individual Ikigai is personal to them and specific to our lives, values and beliefs. 

To know our Ikigai is to have meaning, with meaning we can find our purpose, we could even find those fleeting moments of happiness too.

So, this all sounds great, I know, but how do you start to find your Ikigai?

Now that we have a loose overview of the wonderful concept of Ikigai, it’s time to explore how we can apply this to our own lives.

Behold the mighty map of Ikigai:

Your Ikigai is the space where what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for meet.

Now you can make tweaks to this blueprint to suit your own approach, but the fundamentals stay the same. If you can align these 4 areas, then you will have found your Ikigai, your sense of meaning, your reason for being.

Let’s be clear – finding your Ikigai is not easy. But if it were, it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

Finding it requires a deep and, some say, an often lengthy search of oneself. Such a search is regarded as being very important in Japanese culture, since it is believed that the discovery of one’s Ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life.

What I love about Ikigai is that it’s not fixed, it’s ever-changing, it flows with you.

It’s not about you finding happiness, as that’s quite an elusive pursuit. We could say it’s more like we are creating our own opportunity for happiness.

You don’t have to be doing the exact thing you want to be doing right now, but you can still have your Ikigai. Because if you know what you want and where you want to be, then you have meaning, and meaning = Ikigai (your reason for being).

So the pursuit of Ikigai is not a straight path, but honestly, what is in life?

What’s important is that we find some sort of meaning that drives our reason for being. The thing (or things) that make life worthwhile.

Now we’ve clarified Ikigai.

We can start to ask ourselves some simple questions, some of which will seem glaringly obvious.

As I said before, this is no easy task.

It’s not necessarily about aligning all of this right now, either.

Your Ikigai will change as time goes on. Few things ever give us the same feeling as time passes, so don’t fixate on this being a permanent thing.

This is why I also like using this framework for career development.

There’s a lot of noise in the world. We compare ourselves to others we shouldn’t, fear the tech takeover and continue to be glued to sensationalist headlines curated by outlets that position themselves as ‘news’.

It’s tough, and I feel it too.

It’s for that reason that purpose both at work and in real life is having more of a moment. A 2025 Deloitte survey across 44 countries with 24,000 participants uncovered that 89% of Gen Z and 92% of Millennial respondents class purpose as paramount to job satisfaction. We see this backed up in research from Gallup, where they discovered that employees with a strong sense of purpose are 5.6x more engaged with work vs those with low purpose.

So, bottom line…purpose, meaning, or whatever you label it, is incredibly important in work and life.

This doesn’t have to be big or something determined by society’s standards. It could be as simple as being a good person for your community.

The process is incredibly simple.

Each year, I bring this image, grab a notebook and write out the 4 questions it asks.

I dwell on my answers to make sure I’m still doing the thing/s that make me wanna keep getting up every day. If not, then I know it’s time for me to pivot, and I’ve done that a few times before.

If I’m feeling especially reflective, I’ll pair this exercise with another one focused on the skills that are going to help me pay my bills 😂. This is also very simple, and something I picked up from a Gartner report over a decade ago.

All you do is look at your current skills and ask:

That’s it.

I’m giving all the secrets away today. I don’t think you can go wrong with that one-two combo, yet I’m sure the internet will try to prove me wrong!

I look at our Ikigai (your meaning or purpose) as an element which connects to something larger, something, for the want of a better term, I have named the balance.

The balance is something I often refer to when talking about navigating my one-person business.

It is made up of the 3 elements of work, health and relationships. I believe that you need to align all 3 of these to maintain your balance.

Ikigai connects to the overall balance of work, health and relationships with its pursuit of understanding one’s meaning.

If you align or can balance all three elements of work, health and relationships, then you can generally create a good life for yourself. However, if one of these is flagging or not in sync, then your whole balance will be off.

It’s like a tripod; take one leg out and the whole thing breaks. But when all 3 are aligned, it is sturdy and able to persevere.

Let’s say you might have a great work life and relationship, but if your health is not good, then you are out of balance. This then leads to feelings of unfulfillment, even though you have two areas which are going great.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s difficult and a lot of work to keep everything in balance. Yet it’s entirely possible to bring these together to find your own balance.

I could write a whole other piece on my philosophy of balance, but let’s reconnect with our journey to find our meaning.

So, why do you rise every morning?

This is the question I asked you at the start of this piece.

Now that you know about Ikigai, you can explore your own meaning, let it flow and like a plant, help nurture it every day.

Ok, friend.

That’s my unsolicited career advice talk done.

Hopefully, you found some use in this. As I said at the top of this, I’m no guru or expert, just another human trying to work through it all.

I go through my own Ikigai exercise about twice a year, so if you do use this approach, I’d love to know how you found it.

→ If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing it wherever you hang out online, tag me in and share your thoughts.

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VIDEO THOUGHTS 💾

Feels on point to share this as the week’s spotlight video.

Career Dreamer is a playful AI tool designed to help you explore new career possibilities.

In this video, I take you through the tool from start to finish: entering past roles, adding skills, generating career statements, and seeing how Google’s AI suggests new job paths (some more useful than others!).

If you’re curious about how AI can support career development, or just love exploring experimental Google tools, this is for you.

Enjoy 😊.

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