Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “reason for being.” It’s the intersection of what you love, what the world needs, what you can get paid for, and what you’re great at. Finding your ikigai brings purpose, fulfillment, and balance to your life by aligning passion, mission, vocation, and profession.
My Ikigai is to empower others in the engineering field by simplifying complex ideas and creating accessible pathways for success, especially for underrepresented groups. I will do this by creating tools, guides, and opportunities that make engineering and creation accessible for all, while mentoring and teaching others with the purpose of breaking barriers, challenging the status quo and pouring value into the world while using engineering as the vehicle to do so.
What I love:
Creating accessibility for hard things, especially the things that matter to me or related to engineering and creation
Creating and helping people.
Pouring love into the world.
Rebelling and standing up to the status quo surrounding work and the engineering field
What the world needs:
People to be given opportunities to do big things, especially those who haven’t been given those opportunities yet.
Creating paths for that didn’t exist for people previously.
Counter-discrimination efforts in the engineering space.
What can I get paid for:
Mentoring others to courageously create.
Teaching others technical or creative skills.
Guides/how-to’s.
Tools to facilitate creation.
Tools to make things easier for people, break down barriers to entry.
What am I great at:
Condensing information into smaller bits.
Developing tools to assistance.
Troubleshooting.
Analogizing content for people.
Based on the synthesis of these four parts, I was able to determine my Ikigai (at least version 1.0):
A more refined version:
To create tools, guides, and opportunities that make engineering and creation accessible for all, while mentoring and teaching others to break barriers, challenge the status quo and pour value into the world while using engineering as the vehicle to do so.
This aligns with my passion for creation, teaching, and inclusivity while also leveraging my unique skills and the potential for financial sustainability.