IKIGAI: The path to a blissful life

1:Ikigai or Life Worth Living Among Japanese

Contents
IKIGAI: The path to a blissful life ............................................... 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................ 4
ABSTRACT ................................................................................... 5
The Quest for Finding Your IKIGAI for High Impact................... 7
STEP 1 .................................................................................. 7
Step-2..................................................................................... 7
Step 3 ..................................................................................... 8
Step 4 ..................................................................................... 8
FINAL STEP (DEPENDS ON INDIVIDUAL BASIS) ....................... 8
SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH IKIGAI .................................... 10
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis: - ............................... 10

Qualitative Results ................................................................ 11

Reinforcing the results with data .......................................... 12

Validating The Results ........................................................... 14

CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................... 16
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In performing our major project, we had to take the help and guideline of some
respected persons, who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this
assignment gives us much pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude
Ms. DEEPTI SINHA Mentor for the major project. We are giving us a good guideline
for report throughout numerous consultations. We would also like to extend our
deepest gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in writing
this assignment.

In addition, we would like to thank Delhi Technological University for allowing us to

work on this topic.

DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

(FORMERLY Delhi College of Engineering)
Bawana Road, Delhi-110042
ABSTRACT

The recent times have been quite arduous for everybody. Be it physically or
mentally. The pandemic has tormented us all. Several studies have revealed that
mental stress and has increased by a manifold in the past year. With a significant
proportion of the population seeing their jobs go into blue, depression levels have
been rising. In such circumstances, humans are in desperate need of a holistic
approach to life which. Such an approach should guide in every aspect of life from
personal to professional domains, from health to wealth. With these aspects, one
will be able to find purpose in their life, which is essential to motivate one in life.
The question, however, is whether such an approach even exists. Fortunately, the
theme of this research project, Ikigai, is one such approach that is unique in its
own way. Ikigai has been in the air since the 10th century. Since then, the
technique has transformed countless lives for the good and it is no surprise that
the Japanese can easily live to 100 years or so!
Ikigai is that the union of 4 fundamental components of life: passion, vocation,
profession, and mission.
One's ikigai encompasses their career and personal life. Nevertheless, it is also a
great lens to use when looking for the next step in designing one's career.
Ikigai is a powerful notion for finding purpose and clarity to unlock growth in
disciplines of life. Stress can cause anxiety that makes imbalances within the
autonomic systema nervosum and internal secretions resulting in mental and
somatic disease. Purpose in life (PIL) and ikigai (two social attitudes) help
individuals to integrate psychological events and effectively deal with stress.
PIL/ikigai provides intrinsic motivation and is assumed to develop primarily during
adolescence. There is a correlation between positive experiences as spending
time in beautiful natural surroundings and exposure to warm human relationships
at various developmental stages.
The concept of ikigai is characterized by vagueness, and the literature varies
significantly regarding which of the above three components (experience,
cognitive evaluation, fulfilment) is the primary characteristic of ikigai. It had been
argued that the various conceptualizations of ikigai reflect individual values and
world views within Japan.
The beyond a simple cultural concept. It is a sort of self-realization that
encompasses the thrill of life, general happiness with life, and most significantly,
having meaning in one's life. Mirroring its importance, Ikigai has been studied
extensively in Japan and is related to a lower risk of death from any cause, also as
cardiovascular disease. While individuals suffering from the disease are less likely
to be content with life, or even find meaning in it, studies consistently
demonstrate organic connections between the two, like higher rates of
inflammatory factors and stress hormones in those individuals without Ikigai.
Hence it can be concluded that the scope of ikigai is to provide an impetus in
only motivates one towards their goal but also
illuminates the path to tread upon.
So, summing up, in this study, we will compare and contrast data based on
various parameters: life vibrancy, value engagement, for instance, and conclude
the effect of ikigai on the lives of people. Further, we will attempt to suggest
plans for a mass-scale implementation of ikigai in people's lives.
The Quest for Finding Your IKIGAI for High Impact

STEP 1
Start with the most challenging part and make sure you don't simply leave it to
chance, find out what the world needs, don't just list the problems you think are
important. In the process, you can simply confirm your bias and miss the
opportunity to work on something much more important. You are reading
research done by organizations that specialize in identifying the very best priority
problems. As you'll notice, most of the issues that are considered very important
are fairly unusual and probably unpopular.. That is partially thanks to the very fact
that prime priority problems normally receive little or no attention from most
media. The fact that they are neglected problems makes them unusual, almost by
definition. In the present, our interests are not on a solid basis for career
decisions, for the reasons above, but also because the interests tend to change a
lot over time.

Step-2
First, find out what you're good at (or what you'll be good at), which can solve a
drag, and especially, find a private fit with what the planet needs; having an
honest skill or skillset that helps solve a crucial problem is very valuable. This is
not a surprise that the key to developing a valuable skillset is practice. Many of us
end up practising on a daily basis the skills that our jobs require of us. But we will
be more intentional about the way to build valuable skills.
In general, we can distinguish two types of really good skills or skillsets: Specialist
is skills that are unique to a specific field that will lead you to become an expert in
a specific area and General or transferable skills that can be used in many fields
and situations. These include communication skills etc. Both these sorts of skills
are vital and will be developed. In particular, don't neglect general skills as they're
going to be useful in almost any situation. As you grow and improve your skills,
you develop your own value. The skills will assist you to solve the issues you're
performing on, and your value will put you in a position to raised control or design
your working conditions, making your work much more enjoyable.
Step 3
If you're great at what you are doing and it makes the planet a far better place,
how are you able to not love doing it?
Good work and compelling careers as work that has the subsequent three traits:
Creativity you'll improvise a number of your work and implement your ideas.
Control you've got some say over how, when and where your work gets done
Impact your work features a positive influence on people around you
(customers, co-workers, society, etc.)
The main difference is to start by identifying the opportunities we have to
contribute to a better world rather than contributing after we've developed
specific skills.

Step 4
If you're good at solving important problems, the likelihood is that you'll not get
to worry about money. Becoming the best at your skill is a solid way to getting
well paid, and becoming good on our skill is our best weapon to build wealth and
profession. And combined with a simple sense of personal finance knowledge, it's
undoubtedly the simplest thanks to reaching financial independence. If,
additionally, you employ your skills to unravel a crucial problem, you'll not only be
compensated with wealth but also deep satisfaction.

FINAL STEP (DEPENDS ON INDIVIDUAL BASIS)

Pursuing financial independence or you have already reached there, with your
financial independence Superpower, you can use Thinking Freedom to analyse
more carefully and explore some of the global challenges. You can then select the
world during which you'll have the foremost impact using your Abilities Freedom,
almost independently of the standard financial concerns, albeit meaning start
building a new skillset from the start if you've already achieved Financial ikigai.
You have financial freedom, and therefore money does not need to be a key
criterion for fulfilment anymore!
SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH IKIGAI

Until now we have discussed how to implement Ikigai at personal, professional

and societal level. This section will show how people who implemented Ikigai
have benefitted. We present a case study where research was aimed at evolving
and validating a substantive theory of how Japanese university students pursue
ikigai or life worth living. Our results reveals that students made four well defined
actions to their own pursue ikigai.

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis: -

Keiken Perception is the essence of this study. Keiken or valued experiences was
chosen because all the relevant categories were connected to it theoretical and
philosophical integration. Thus, within our broader theory of ikigai, the current
paper reports one aspect called keiken.
We have identified the following parameters for a holistic analysis of Ikigai: -

Value Engagement: Analysis indicates that the core categories of keiken are
the foundation of ikigai experiences, or experiences that they personally
valued. Specifically, enjoyment (tanoshimi), effort(ganbari),
stimulation(shigeki), and comfort(iyashi). This is called value engagement.

Value Diversification and Balancing: Engrossing with various experience values

(e.g., enjoyment and effort) at once within daily lives, refers to Value
diversification.

Life Affirmation: Through their keiken, subjects often perceived their daily lives
were worth living. We call this affirmative assessment life affirmations. This
construct revolves around experience, concrete feeling of life worthiness,
rather than an abstract metaphysical idea of meaning.
 Life Vibrancy: The other consequence of keiken was life vibrancy, or the
e full of energy and
motivation.

These parameters qualitatively compares and contrast among the sample space.
They highlight the differences and similarities among people who implemented
Ikigai in their lives while those who were unaware of any such approach to life.

Qualitative Results
Our scrutiny led to realisation of two main principles that define the keiken
processes: value understanding and action which conclude up our qualitative
analysis.

The first condition, value understanding, refers to the state where students
understood what type of experience was valuable in a given life circumstance.
Particularly illustrative examples are cases where students have gone from a
non-keiken state to a state with it.
A second important condition emerged from member verification data regarding
advice provided by participants to a hypothetical friend who was struggling with
Keiken. More precisely, they agreed on the importance of koudou-ryoku, or the
ability to act upon an opportunity of potentially valuable experience without
hesitation. This is termed as orientation action.
Acceptance of Ikigai through the keiken approach inculcated these principles
among the subjects. These principles thus enabled them to be a better judge of
their actions and to better understand the outcomes of these actions.
Reinforcing the results with data

The outcomes of the qualitative analysis are backed by data obtained from the
quantitative study of the parameters. The results are depicted via a number of
coefficients and factors based on various scales.
Keiken's Perception Scale: This scale has been developed to specifically measure
the affirmation of life and the dynamism of life. The final two 3-item scales are
listed in Table 1.

Keiken Conditions Scale: This scale was designed to specifically measure

understanding of value and action. Each keiken condition was determined by two
elements. (Table 1).
Validating The Results

In order to authenticate the results, a PLS-SEM analysis was performed.

The partial least squares path modelling or partial least squares structural
equation modelling (PLS-PM, PLS-SEM) is a method of structural equation
modelling which allows estimating complex cause-effect relationship models with
latent variables. This algorithm provided the quantitative relations between the
several parameters in the model. The results are depicted through the following
flowchart.
CONCLUSION

Sometimes following a passion is not the only solution for finding your life
purpose; here are four reasons why "following your passion" is bad advice; it
suggests that passion is all you need; many people do not feel like they have a
career-relevant passion, it makes a sound like we can work out the right career
for you in a flash of insight, it can make people needlessly limit their options
rather than working on finding a passion where you may or may not be successful
leading to unnecessary stress we should be more focused to find a dream job in
which you are good, that helps others and have Supportive conditions that are
engaging work that lets you enter a state of flow; supportive peer group; lack of
significant negative thoughts like unfair pay; and work that fits your personal life.
Ikigai does not mean to find in physical form money or living a luxurious life may
give you a comfortable life but not a peaceful mind. ikigai means "power
necessary for one to live in this world, happy to be alive, benefit, effectiveness."

We only live once and have one life, and therefore only one chance to live it fully,
with meaning and true purpose. Let us take this time to work on our Ikigai and
think about our impact on everybody's lives and make the world a better place for
every creature out there.

To summarize, the case study is able to explain mechanisms through which

people can inculcate ikigai: value engagement, value diversification, value
balancing, and value disengagement. These keiken processes lead to two types of
perception: life affirmation and vibrancy. The processes are further facilitated by
two ikigai conditions: value understanding and action.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Demystifying Ikigai: What it Is and How to Discover Yours | by Vicario

Reinaldo | Ascent Publication (medium.com)

Ethics
Phycological interpretation of Ikigai

Phycological Wellbeing

Purpose of life

The Power of Ikigai - The Curiosity Chronicle.

https://sahilbloom.substack.com/p/the-power-of-ikigai

Theorizing Ikigai or Life Worth Living Among Japanese ....

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00086-x