生き甲斐 a reason for being

Ikigai Workbook

Write down the concrete things in your life — activities, skills, causes, kinds of work. Mark each one against the four circles, and watch where they gather. Anything that sits in all four is a candidate for your ikigai.

joins two Japanese words: (生き, "to live") and (甲斐, "worth") — the worth of being alive; a reason to get up in the morning. In Japan the word is ordinary and modest: an ikigai can be your work, but just as often it's a garden, a grandchild, a morning walk, or a craft practiced for its own sake. It doesn't have to be grand, and it doesn't have to earn money.

The four-circle diagram used here is a modern Western adaptation that focuses the idea on work and vocation. It's a genuinely useful lens — just remember the original meaning is wider: anything that makes life feel worth living counts.

1 · Gather

Pick the circles that apply, then add. You can change any item's circles later with the dots beside it. Be honest, not aspirational — the gaps are the useful part.

Your items · 0

    Nothing here yet. Start with whatever comes to mind first — that's usually the honest answer.

    If you're stuck, ask yourself

    What you love

    What would you do on a free Saturday with no obligations? What did you lose track of time doing as a child?

    What you're good at

    What do people come to you for? What feels easy to you that others find hard?

    What the world needs

    What problems make you angry or sad enough to act? Who is underserved, and by what?

    What you can be paid for

    What have you actually been paid for — or seen others paid for — that you could credibly offer?

    2 · See where things gather

    Love what you love Good at your craft Needed by the world Paid your livelihood Passion Mission Profession Vocation 生き甲斐 ikigai

    Tap a region

    Select any region of the diagram to see which of your items live there — and what the region tends to feel like when you stay in it too long.

    Everything is saved in this browser automatically. Nothing leaves your device. To move your list to another device, download the summary there and import it here.

    A worked example

    Maya's map

    Maya is 38. She manages logistics projects at a shipping company by day, and on weekends she volunteers teaching coding to teenage girls. She's competent and secure — and quietly restless. Here's the honest list she wrote, and what the four circles showed her.

    What the diagram showed her

    Only one thing — teaching coding — landed in all four circles. That's her ikigai candidate: not a final answer, but the place to look first.

    Two others sat just one circle away, and which circle was missing turned out to be the whole point:

    • Her day job is skilled, needed, and paid — but missing love. And love is hard to manufacture on command.
    • Her weekend mentoring is loved, skilled, and needed — but missing only paid. And getting paid is a problem you can actually solve: schools, bootcamps, and companies hire coding instructors.

    So the near-miss worth chasing wasn't the prestigious day job — it was the unpaid thing she already loved, because its missing circle was the easiest one to close. The diagram didn't decide for her. It told her where to push.

    Adds these seven items to your workbook so you can explore the diagram. Your own items are kept — use “Start over” to clear everything.