What you need to be paid?

I half-jokingly left the last Ikigai question to your own imagination but I have deeper thoughts to share with you in this additional article I would like to add on to the Ikigai series. Ultimately, the question on what the you’d be paid for, will bring up a point about how much is enough for you. This is the deeper question that the Ikigai framework should be harking at. Just as ‘What the world needs?’ makes you think more deeply about your purpose, the ‘What you can be paid for?’ implicitly makes you consider the lifestyle you want.

And today, in this world of plenty, where you even have the option to consider how you may live a more purposeful life rather than just go with the flow, shows that you actually know there’s a minimum lifestyle you can quite easily satisfy and secure. The point is to understand how much is enough for yourself. You might then think you want to fulfill your potential and not be mediocre or just allow your income to stagnate or to be complacent. I agree; but I think fulfilment of one’s potential doesn’t always come in the form of earning a higher income – you can also be compensated through a sense of meaning and satisfaction from the success of your clients.

Anyways, the key question here is about the selection of lifestyles; how much more enjoyment are you actually working for when you are trying to get more income for a more lavish lifestyle? And how much pain are you going through to hit that spot? So one way to consider finding possibilities in this category is to work backwards from the lifestyle you want. You may have an option that gives you more time to pursue other interests, or one that gives you more resources to live life more lavishly – you’ll have to weigh which one you gravitate towards.

This is an additional article to the multi-part series of writing on Ikigai. The cover article explains why I’m writing all of these. Read part two, three, four, and five. Download the worksheet here.