Continuous learning is at the heart of everyday things at NonStop. For every book I read, every philosophy I get to know, I make a sincere attempt to filter out the summary and introspect how it could be applied to what we do at NonStop.
One such concept that I got to know closeup was that of Ikigai. Interestingly the book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” published in 2017 is written by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles. The fact that this book was written by two Spaniards (and not Japanese) goes on to show that there is so much good to learn for anyone who wants to learn from any corner of the world. The world is so full of liberating and fulfilling things to learn! The real question is: Are you ready to experience and learn? 😇
So this book talks about a philosophy of Ikgai (生き甲斐), which translates to “a reason for being”. The philosophy refers to having a direction or purpose in life, providing a sense of fulfillment and towards which an individual may take actions, giving her satisfaction and a sense of meaning. The book talks of many interesting concepts including “The 80 percent secret”, “Moai: Connected for life”, “Morita therapy”, “The art of the Takumi”, “Sophisticated simplicity”, “Microflow: Enjoying mundane tasks”, and many others, which have the ability to open up one’s mind to several unexplored possibilities.
This book has an enlightening diagram (by Mark Winn) that made us (re)think of what we do at NonStop, how we should approach our everyday work, and what changes we should make in our attitude towards what we do every day. The point here is that if you can find positive answers to all the 4 questions listed below doing what you’re currently doing, then you’re closer than before to achieve your Ikigai.
What you love?
What you are good at?
What the world needs?
What you can be paid for?
One’s career lies at the cross-sections of “What you love?”, “What you are good at?” and “What you can be paid for?”
One’s calling lies at the cross-sections of “What you love?”, “What you are good at?” and “What the world needs?”
One’s potential lies at the cross-sections of “What you love?”, “What the world needs?” and “What you can be paid for?”
One’s cause lies at the cross-sections of “What you are good at?”, “What the world needs”, and “What you can be paid for?”
And one’s Ikigai lies at the cross-sections of all of the above!
As the NonStop team is growing and maturing into an organization that wants to add true value to whoever it works with, it makes sense for individuals in the team to introspect if:
You love what you do
- Are you truly passionate about what you’re doing?
- Are you emotionally connected to the result of your work?
You are doing something that the world needs
- Are you helping to solve an actual problem?
- Is there a demand in the market for the thing that you are building?
You are working on something that you can be paid for
- Can your skillset pay your bills?
- Can you live enough comfortable life doing what you are doing?
What Are You Good At
- Are you getting expert at what you’re doing?
- Are you among the best in your workplace/community/city/country/world at this?
These according to me are such stimulating questions, worth asking oneself, and worth brainstorming as a team. As NonStop we have been working on these things in bits-n-pieces for a long time. However, now that we’ve come across this model, I feel it is worth pondering over, in order to have some new learnings. Having this thought model at the back of our minds, we as a collective hopefully can work towards being a more empathetic, happy, and satisfied group.
Note: I’ve also happened to come across a few point-of-views which say that this is not Ikigai in its real form, go on to explain the real meaning of the term. IMHO those views also prove to be quite thought-provoking, and at its core explain the importance of staying invested in something for a long time, staying simple and true to oneself-n-others, being humble-n-polite, having patience, and improving oneself with each passing day.
I hope and am confident that whatever we learn at NonStop proves helpful to everyone who works with NonStop, as we walk forward on a path to building a conscious, ethical, and quality organization.
Peace ✌️
