Why do we live ... for what purpose? Ikigai ... comes from the word Ikiru, which means to live, and Gai, which means value. Therefore, Ikigai (อิคิไก) translates to the value of living. To put it simply ... what brings us happiness and makes us want to continue living? It could be cooking for a daughters who is growing up, hearing the birds sing and the leaves rustle in the sunlight, or enjoying a good cup of coffee in various places.

Besides our personal lives, we can also create "Ikigai" in our professions using these three simple techniques.

1. Imagine the User

Try to imagine who our customers are. Before they come to buy our products or services, what have they gone through? And after purchasing, how will their lives change?
 
By the way ... can you guess which leg in this picture is real and which is fake?

The answer is that the left side of the picture is the fake leg.
 
Fukushima Yukako is a craftsman who makes prosthetic limbs. She can create anything, whether it’s a prosthetic arm or leg. If she only thinks of her job as merely crafting limbs, you wouldn’t see the legs that resemble real ones in terms of veins, skin tone, and muscles.
 
Yukako's Ikigai is when she sees the shining faces of customers trying on prosthetic limbs and realizing that they are almost indistinguishable from real ones. She finds joy in this.
 
Therefore, every time she meets a customer, she doesn’t just ask what type of prosthetic they are interested in; she genuinely listens to their "stories"—why each person wants a prosthetic, how they live, and what dreams they have.
 
This allows her to imagine the expressions of a young girl when she makes a prosthetic leg for her, knowing that this leg will give the girl the courage to board a plane and travel abroad, or that prosthetic hand will enable a father to confidently hold his child’s hand and walk them to school.
 
The power of this imagination allows Yukako to fully dedicate herself to her work, making her creations nearly indistinguishable from real limbs.
 
Try to listen to your customers’ stories and imagine what they will do with the products they buy from you or whom they will give them to, and you will see the value in your products and the work you do more clearly.

2. Create Benefits for Others

I once encountered some students who said, "My Ikigai is to build a huge business worth billions."
 
That ... is a goal, but not an Ikigai in terms of doing good work.
 
An Ikigai that can empower oneself in the long run should be one that creates benefits for others. For example, Tokido ... a professional gamer from Japan, once stated that he dreams of making e-sports more popular in Japan because the country lags behind others in this field. Tokido is determined to play games, win prizes, and build his reputation to raise awareness and inspire the younger generation in Japan.

In the case of the student mentioned above, I asked, "Why do you want to build such a huge business?" He replied, "I want this product to reach many people because it is genuinely good." Thus, this man's new Ikigai became about bringing happiness to many people through this product instead.

3. Be Passionate About It

Yuji Sakamoto is a playwright whose works often focus on heavy themes, such as a single mother struggling to raise her child or the lives of suspects after a crime.

Sakamoto knows that popular dramas often revolve around love and light-hearted themes, but he still tries to write plays in his own style because he believes there is an audience that seeks encouragement to continue living and craves inspiration ... so he writes plays to empower that group of people.
 
Therefore, each person's Ikigai is different, even among those in the same industry. The Ikigai of one playwright might be to create smiles for the audience, recognizing that people are already stressed from work throughout the day, while Sakamoto's Ikigai is to empower a small group in society.
 
Our Ikigai doesn’t have to be like anyone else’s. Think about what you are most passionate about, a belief, or something you want to see or do that inspires you ... those could be your Ikigai in your work as well.
 
From the three techniques mentioned above, consider the face of your "customer" ... think of ways to help or bring happiness to that person, and something you feel deeply passionate about, then craft it into a personal slogan. That could be your Ikigai.

SOURCE :  www.krungsri.com