How do you plan to utilize your life?
It is not uncommon for people to only discover their life purpose in their later years, as was the case with Sachiaki Takamiya. At 60 years old, he feels as though he has just begun, having already published two books and with many more goals to achieve. In order to continue his work, it is essential for him to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Living longer to fulfill your life's mission
Nick: Your previous book, The Ikigai Diet, was more focused on eating for longevity, and ikigai and well-being. And now your most recent book, Ikigai Bio-Hacking, focuses on obviously bio-hacking to live longer and optimally.
And at the start of the book, you ask two important questions to the reader: ‘Why do you want to live long?’ and ‘What is the purpose of extending your lifespan?’ So I'd like to ask these questions of you, Sachiaki.
So you are 60. You look much younger, and I'm sure you feel much younger. So why do you want to live longer? And what is the purpose for you extending your lifespan?
Sachiaki: Well, first of all, I am not interested in extending my lifespan. I'm happy with the present lifespan we have as a humanity, which is somewhere between 100 and 120. So the longest person who has lived before was 121, I think a French woman. And now, I think, is a Brazilian man or someone who's reached 121 or something.
So we know that humans are capable of living up to 120, around that sort of age. I'm happy to stay within this kind of a natural capacity we have. But I want to stay healthy, I want to stay sick-free and be active to be able to continue doing what I am doing now at the age of 100 and 110, and so on.
I am not interested in extending my lifespan to 150 or 200 years old, or so much. Because the purpose of staying sick-free until 120 is that I want to complete my mission in life. I kind of started late, I've been a sort of a student for a long time in my life. And in a way, I mean, not a literal sense of a student, but I have not accomplished what I wanted to do in the last 60 years.
I think some people are lucky enough to be established early on. So they maybe fulfilled their mission by the time they are 40, or 50, and so on. But in my case, my life is kind of starting now. You know, having those two books out. So I'm sure, in the future, in the next few years, I'll be speaking worldwide, maybe giving talks, or writing more books.
And maybe I can spread the Ikigai Diet and Ikigai Bio-Hacking. So this contribution can begin now. So having extra 60 years is very helpful for me. That's the main purpose, and I want to stay sick-free and stay energetic to be able to continue my work.
And why 120? Well, maybe 100 is enough for me, too. If I can live another 40 years, that's fine with me. But just because we're capable of living up to 120, like why not? It’s just like something I want to challenge.
Nick: All these resonates with me. Like you, I feel my life has only just begun in some ways. I think the work I do now is my personal mission. And I really only started a few years ago, so life started at 50, for me.
So I understand that perspective. To have this personal mission that's intrinsically motivating and meaningful, and something you'd happily do for another 20, 30, 40 years, I can relate to.