What is ikigai? Ikigai Tribe founder, Nick Kemp, explains what ikigai really is: an intrinsic motivation; not some entrepreneurial framework that we need to follow.
As you may know, ikigai is misunderstood as this framework of finding something that you love, that you’re good at, that the world needs, and that you can be paid for.
But understanding ikigai is really simple if we frame it as intrinsic motivation: doing things simply because they hold value and you like to do them, simply because they make you feel good.
So these can be things like your hobbies, they can be being playful in your relationships, they can be a role. So for me, being a father, I find that intrinsically motivating and I love connecting with my son – and so that is an ikigai source for me.
So your ikigai doesn’t have to be something we need to get paid for, you don’t even have to be good at it, and in some cases, you don’t have to love it, and it’s not really about what the world needs.
It is more related to how you can help others, specifically, the people who define you. So these would be people who would understand in the context of your various roles. So ikigai is intrinsic motivation, it’s not some entrepreneurial framework that we need to follow.