In this video, Matthew Borg shares how discovering ikigai has impacted his personal and professional life.
Being able to have a super ikigai
Nick: So on September 6, last year, you sent me this message through LinkedIn, and it blew me away. So I'll just quote the message.
‘Nick, your podcast is impressive and has improved my life infinitely. As a school principal, and most importantly, as a leader of humans, that have the ability to shape the future through generations, the ikigai concept is one that resonates as a powerful contribution to human improvement and empowerment. I personally use my ikigai in all aspects of personal and professional life. Finding flow in all that inspires me to be better every day in service of those I serve. Hell, I even have it plastered on the side of my boat as fishing is an ikigai of mine.’
So when I read that, I was like, wow, who is this guy? And I thought, I didn't think my podcast would have such an impact. And yeah, we connected and had a chat. And we've connected again recently. So yeah, thanks for that feedback, first of all. But how would you say ikigai has impacted your personal life? Maybe before that, you can introduce yourself if you'd like to.
Matthew: Just before I do that, what I found very interesting is that message holds true just as true, if not more true, right now and today, I just want to note that that message was written obviously, before chat-GTP even came out. So you can give any credit for putting together that message.
And it's a message I probably held on to for three or four months prior to sending just getting the right words, the profound impact that I've had on myself personally, professionally as a school principal, and also for collectively, in my own personal life as well. So it's all still rings absolutely true for the work that I have put forward through learning more about ikigai and how it resonates within my working life and my home life.
So just a quick snippet about me, I'm an educator, learning and education and educational leadership in particular is another ikigai of mine, something that I am extremely embedded in, I am currently lucky enough to be the principal of a school called Keilor Views Primary School, which is in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. And we have a hugely diverse population of students.
So we have students that speak 36 different languages across the board, and lots and lots of different nationalities within that language group. So it's a multicultural melting pot of Victoria, where we're able to influence and empower our learners to flourish in the world. So I think the actual concept has had a profound influence on my personal life.
I've been able to thread my research of ikigai, and particularly through your podcasts in particular, I've been able to utilize some of the concepts and ideas of finding purpose and meaning and real connection with both identifying what my ikigai are, being able to understand how each of those ikigai can actually be embedded within my own regime or timetable and life.
And what I found in particular, which is something I haven't heard many people actually speak about just yet, is the intersection between two ikigais coming together, and being able to have that sort of as a super ikigai.
Where, for example, I'll give you an example when my educational leadership research comes together with my family, and being able to be a little wiser in providing some sort of nurturing and empowerment to my own children, in collaboration with my wife, is been able to have better outcomes for my kids and better outcomes for me personally, because my kids are growing in a way that resonates our values as a family.
And that's something that is huge. I think the fishing piece is that is definitely one of my ikigais. It is a self care thing for me as well to be able to give back into nature, so it's not so much the action of participating in the recreation of fishing, it's more being nurtured and immersed in the environment and being able to step out of a busy life and a busy world, and actually slow down and get to appreciate the bird life, the aquatic life.
And if I can do that with a family member, it again links two ikigai together, and then creates this powerful, positive burst of energy that I can actually hold on to and use in my day-to-day living.