Ikigai 2.0: Careers Advice Adapted For Next Gen?

Find Your Passion, Follow Your Dreams

We all need a reason to get up in the morning. For some, it is to give the kids breakfast. For others, it is to pull on the well-trodden-trainers and go for a dopamine-fuelled jog. For most adults, it often involves, ‘going to work’ in some capacity. What we ‘do’ regularly defines us, yet we often stumble through the morning routine without pausing for reflection.  

Ikigai is a Japanese philosophy that encourages people to discover their life's purpose and live a fulfilling life. To live a fulfilling life has been the territory of philosophers for centuries. As Seneca states, in his essay, ‘On the Shortness of Life’: ‘Living is the least important activity of the preoccupied man; yet there is nothing which is harder to learn’. Never have we been more preoccupied. Our attention economy taps into comparisons and drives us forward on the competitive career treadmill.

Yet, for some of us, the spiky triangles, we learned through necessity that the mainstream road to education and employment was not fit for purpose. If you’ve not been able to traverse the usual landscapes with ease, grit is needed in a double serving for breakfast. As Beckingham (2022) states in her chapter on navigating the third space in higher education, ‘Life events and the collective experiences have helped me to become more resilient and determined, but also taught me that patience is rewarded’. Delayed gratification is at the heart of the atypical hero’s journey.

It feels like the personal development sphere is catching up with this experience. We are all looking for something more. Our souls crave meaning, connection and purpose. Mindfulness classes are training us to slow down, while we simultaneously bark that we, ‘are busy!’. Having to thoughtfully carve your way through         necessity means an individual cannot mindlessly sleepwalk.

Right Time For a Rethink

The COVID-19 pandemic gave us the icky phrase, ‘the new normal’. Yet, the old ‘normal’ did not work for many of us. As a late-diagnosed neurodivergent individual, I’m used to the ‘typical’ being a challenge. I’m the canary who was in the coal mine long before everyone else joined me. Deliberate career carving, while one learns first-hand the challenges of systems, inevitably gives an individual specialist knowledge. One becomes sensitive to the hurdles that others may have historically skipped past (Pilkington, 2015). When institutions are looking to understand the ‘seldom heard’ experiences, one is placed with in depth insights and an ability to empathise with outsiders.

The pandemic gave us a jolting-pause that spotlighted just how non-inclusive our existing spaces and operations are. Over the past 15 years, the Public Sector Equality Duties have given light to the inequalities in our services, educational establishments and workplaces. Year after year, we have published evidence that reveals the stubbornly high rates of systemic disadvantage. In Scotland, due to demands for improvement, we are introducing new duties in 2025 to publish disability and race pay gaps and action plans, along with the existing gender pay gap work. As part of my work on an advisory committee with the Scottish Government, in the past year I have responded to consultations on an Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy, Disability Commissioner Bill, Human Rights Bill and Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill. In all these pieces of work the recurring theme is that of the ‘implementation gap’ – our real world lived experience does not reflect our policy intentions.

For the world of higher and further education, the student experience has been thrown into an existential debate – what does our community look like? What is best practice for hybrid teaching? How do we prepare students for the working world as it adapts and evolves right before our very eyes? We barely can keep up with the latest HR thought piece. ‘Traditional’ just won’t do.

Ikigai-Limitations

Let’s come back to Ikigai and consider whether it can shed light on our next steps, for education, work and career advice. In this concept, four elements overlap to create your purpose: what you love (your passion), what the world needs (your mission), what you are good at (your vocation), and what you can get paid for (your profession). As an idea, it is wonderful. However, again, lived reality highlights its limitations for some audiences.

Those who face ongoing barriers in society - due to gender, disability, race, and other protected characteristics – can indeed reflect on the four elements of Ikigai; yet may not be ultimately granted access to reach their full potential. If our education and employment systems do not adapt to support different needs and identities, at pace and scale, those marginalised will continue to be unable to express their unique talents. In an ideal society, yes, let Ikigai guide the way.

Yet, we also have to acknowledge the essential ongoing work around institutionalised able-ism, racism and gender discrimination. Equality is a work in progress. We are setting our students up to fail if we prepare them for a working world free from unconscious biases (I’ve written a specific blog post for carving out careers for those with additional support needs). Indeed a unique benefit from having a squiggly career as part of a minority group is an open-mind. Being on the receiving end of this for an extended period means that you become an advocate for constantly challenging assumptions.

Alternative Ikigai

Alas, it may seem bleak. Indeed, we have a lot of work to do, and it is my privilege to literally do this as my ‘work’. Through my own personal and professional experience, I have amassed much expertise in soul-searching, development and its expression in the world. For the current world, we need to embrace the uncomfortable arena of, ‘both/and’. While we continue to work on adapting our institutions to become more inclusive, we can recognise the reality for oppressed individuals. We can continue to train students for essential vocations, while also adapting our advice to up-and-coming-careers of  You-Tubing and reality stars. We can recognise the value of what we ‘do’ as paid-for-expertise, while also knowing that our meaning can come from other forms of labour, such as being a carer and a compassionate listener.

Ikigai is a good place to start; our journey with equalities is progressing.

References

Beckingham, S. (2022). Chapter 21.  ‘The Importance of a Mentor in Overcoming the ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ Syndrome’, in McIntosh, E. & Nutt, D. (eds) The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education (Routledge, 2022).