Ikigai: How to Find Your Reason for Being

“Ikigai” (生き甲斐) is a Japanese term that roughly translates to “a reason for being,” or “a reason to wake up in the morning.” It is a way of thinking about the overlap between four things:

1. What you love: your passions and interests. What activities make time disappear? What could you do for hours without getting tired of it?
2. What you are good at: your skills and talents. What comes to you naturally, or with relatively little effort?
3. What the world needs: a gap, in your community or more broadly, that you are positioned to help close.
4. What you can be paid for: the practical side: what people are willing to pay for, and what can realistically sustain you financially.

The overlap of all four is your Ikigai: the point where what you love, what you are good at, what is needed, and what sustains you financially, line up.

How to discover your Ikigai

1. Self-reflection: set aside time to think through the four elements above. Make a list for each, and notice where they overlap.
2. Explore your passions: try different activities and hobbies to find what genuinely excites you.
3. Develop your skills: keep improving your talents; the more proficient you become, the more likely they are to turn into something valuable.
4. Contribute to others: identify needs in your community or beyond, and find ways your talents and passions can address them.
5. Sustainability: passion and purpose matter, but your Ikigai also needs to support your livelihood over the long term.

The benefits of embracing Ikigai

1. Happiness: a clearer Ikigai tends to bring more contentment, since your daily activities line up with what genuinely matters to you.
2. Reduced stress: aligning your day-to-day life with your Ikigai tends to lower stress, since you are spending more time on things you believe in.
3. Longevity: research consistently links having a sense of purpose with longer, healthier lives.
4. Increased productivity: doing what you love and what you are good at tends to make you more effective at it, almost as a side effect.

A common misconception about Ikigai

The four-circle diagram, with money and career at its centre, is largely a Western reading of the idea. In Japan, Ikigai is often something much smaller and more everyday: the morning coffee, time with friends, a hobby, the satisfaction of doing a small thing well. It does not have to be tied to your job or your income at all. Holding it loosely like this takes the pressure off — you are not hunting for one grand purpose, just noticing what makes a day feel worth getting up for.

Conclusion

Finding your Ikigai is rarely a quick exercise, but it is a useful one: aligning what you love, what you are good at, what is needed, and what sustains you, rather than expecting one single activity to satisfy all four at once. It tends to change over time too, as you grow and learn more about yourself, so it is worth revisiting rather than treating as a one-off answer.

Ikigai is one of the discussion topics covered during journaling sessions as part of the wellness side of a week with Uluwatu Surf & Yoga Retreats, guided by our retreat leader. Book your retreat to explore it further.

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce Ikigai?

“Ee-kee-guy” — three short, even syllables.

Does my Ikigai have to be my job?

No. It can be a hobby, a relationship, or a small daily ritual. The career-focused version is only one interpretation of the idea.

Can my Ikigai change over time?

Yes, and it usually does. It is worth revisiting every so often rather than treating it as a fixed, one-time answer.

About the author

Written by the team at Uluwatu Surf & Yoga Retreats. The wellness and journaling sessions where ideas like these come up are led by Captain Bingo (ERYT500), who has taught yoga, meditation, and wellness internationally for over 30 years. Meet Captain Bingo.