What’s your ‘reason for being?’
The Japanese word “ikigai” means a “life purpose” or “raison d’être.” Ikigai refers to defining your personal meaning of life in relation to your talents, passions, and profession, as well as what you can give to the wider world.
I’ve previously talked about the struggle I had in finding my own ‘reason for being’, you may call it my legacy
My journey through life coaching, which followed with training to become a life coach, has helped me discover a new life.
One where I have re-connected with previous talents, as well as focusing on areas of my life where previously I had not realised their significance.
If you can’t prioritise coaching right now, due to the many other financial pressures, there’s a very simple way that we can all check in on our ‘IKGAL’.
The more of these questions that you can answer yes to, you’ll be on the right track to finding a higher purpose in your life.
- Do I love it?
- Am I good at it?
- Does the world need it?
- Can it pay me to live?
The ultimate would be to find your ‘thing’ that can also finance you to live, but I’m a strong believer that this doesn’t need to be the ultimate aim.
Many of us will have passions that answer the first 3, but they may never finance our way of living. Art for me is a great example of this. I love it, but do I want to do it all the time, with the pressure of creating an income from it? No, I definitely don’t.
Helping others, however, is an area of my life that does support all 4 areas.
Launching my new business ReWork Consulting this year has provided a platform to fully explore how my skills and experience can help others.
My experience as a coach is pivotal in this business, where strong listening skills are vital in the services we provide.
Whilst private life coaching continues to help individuals with self-development, work-life balance, and the wider childless not-by-choice community.
It’s important for me to recognise that these focus points may change. Life is a moving picture after all, but as we start a new year I wanted to check in and remind myself of where I’m heading and why!
I’ve never been one for new year’s resolutions, but I do love to create goals.
So if you’re thinking of creating goals ahead of this year, it’s important to consider, whether are they achievable – i.e SMART?
S – Specific
M- Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Time-bound
Those that set unrealistic goals (that aren’t SMART) are usually the ones that give up no sooner than they’ve started.
I like to think of goals as small lines in the sand, on what I hope is a long journey. It’s important to not focus on the end result too much, as ‘Happiness’, the real ‘magic’ as I see it, is found in what I can experience along the way.
*I hope you find your ‘magic’ this year,
Sending lots of love
Sarah
*If 2023 is the year that you think you’d like to explore the many benefits that coaching brings please don’t hesitate to get in touch
