Journaling to Change Direction
WHY THIS EXERCISE
Having a sense of purpose leads to a happier, more fulfilling life, helping us navigate challenges (Burrow & Hill, 2020). Yet, many of us struggle to find it, often waiting for it to magically appear.
Instead, shift your mindset: with the right tools, such as Ikigai—a Japanese concept—you can actively discover your purpose. This exercise will explore how.
EXERCISE FLOW
There are three main steps to this exercise, which I will detail in further detail:
Define your purpose “building blocks”: Begin by understanding Ikigai and using it to identify activities that you enjoy doing, and separately that you are good at. The intersection of what you enjoy and what you excel at will be your first stepping stone to identifying purpose.
Benchmark your current role/career path against your purpose: Evaluate your current role/career: how many of the elements that you enjoy doing and are good at do you leverage in it? Do you feel Are you satisfied with your compensation?
Create your action plan: How can you shift your career in the direction of your Ikigai?
As per always, you don’t need to follow all the prompts below: use what feels right, and set aside what doesn’t.
STEP 1 - IKIGAI & PURPOSE “BUILDING BLOCKS”
a. Understanding Ikigai: This Japanese framework enables you to find our purpose, or Ikigai, which is at the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. You can read more here.
b. Identify what you love doing, and what you are good at. Here are some questions to help:
Build a list of energising activities, answering the question: What energises me, in work, in my personal life, when I was growing up?
Ensure to drill down to individual components. For example if you list “event organisation” - what specifically do you love when it comes to event organisation ? Is it the feeling of bringing to life your vision, is it paying attention to details, or seeing the guests enjoy the event ?
Review the list of your energisers:
Which items am I good at ? —> these will form the “passion” component of your Ikigai
Which items am I not good at yet ? —> these can be developed & nurtured until they become strengths
Build a list of drainers :
What are you good at, but drains you to do ?
What are activities that you are neither good at, nor energise you to do ?
STEP 2 - ASSESSING YOUR CURRENT CAREER PATH
Looking at your lists of energisers, and drainers, which items are present in your current job and career path:
Which of your skills and energisers do you use in your current work ? Which do you NOT use ?
Which of your drainers do you have to do in your current work and prospective career ?
Assess your career vs the other two components of Ikigai:
What the world needs: Do you feel like you are making a difference with your work ? Note that how you FEEL about the positive impact that your work is making on the world, rather than the objective measurable impact.
What you can get paid for: Do you feel fairly compensated for your work ?
STEP 3 - BUILD AN ACTION PLAN
What could you do in your current job to move towards your Ikigai:
Can you integrate more of your energisers and avoid your drainers at work ?
How can you get the opportunity to improve your skills in tasks that energise you, but aren’t yet strengths ?
What can you do to feel that you are making the world a better place through your work?
How can you improve your compensation ?
What could you do in your private life ?
What hobbies or volunteering or training could help you integrate more of your energisers, including strengthening energisers that aren’t skills yet ?
What new jobs/careers could fit your Ikigai better ?
Who could you talk to get out of box ideas on potential jobs or career paths ?
Who do you feel jealous of professionally ? Why ?
Summarise 3 actions to take after this journaling session with clear deadlines and success criteria
Make them as simple as possible, for example: “talk to my mentor y”, “set up a meeting with my boss to review how we can leverage my strengths & energisers more”, etc
And that’s it! I hope that this was helpful - please don’t hesitate to write in to share any feedback! Good luck.
FURTHER INSPIRATION
Listen to a fantastic “Hidden Brain” podcast episode called “Cultivating Your Purpose”, which outlines the importance of purpose, beyond goals, and gives suggestions on how to get there.
