How to Find Your Ikigai and Understand Your Life's Purpose
Finding Your Ikigai
For many project managers, project management isn’t just a job – it’s a calling.
Maybe you stumbled into this profession or perhaps you sought this out as a career option intentionally. Either way, we each bring our own unique path and journey into project management.
Finding your life’s purpose and aligning your career with your passions and strengths is at the heart of the Japanese concept of ikigai – your “reason for being”.
Four Key Elements of Ikigai
Ikigai is located at the intersection of the following four key elements:
Passion – What you love – The work that excites and motivates you each day.
Vocation – What you’re good at – This is your strengths including your project management and interpersonal skills that help you succeed.
Mission – What the world needs – This is how your work contributes to a greater good, and the impact on your teams, organization, and the world.
Profession – What you can be paid for – Project management can be financially rewarding, especially as you gain experience over time and move into more senior-level project and program management roles.
When these four areas of Ikigai align, you know you’ve found a fulfilling and meaningful career path.
How to Find Your Ikigai
Reflect on Your Passions
What aspects of project management light you up and excite you the most? Is it collaborating with project teams? Coordinating efforts to drive projects forward? Breaking down complex problems into step-by-step workplans?
Identify the work you love doing and where you find the most energy, fulfillment and joy.
Identify Your Strengths
What are your core strengths as a project manager? Your ability to lead, communicate, organize, or adapt can guide you toward job roles that naturally align with your strengths. Recognizing these can help you find a career that you love each day.
Define Your Impact
Think about how your work contributes to a larger purpose, either within your organization, your community, or beyond! Seeing the bigger picture brings greater meaning to your daily work and helps you sustain your ongoing personal motivation and commitment.
Ensure Financial Sustainability
We all know that financial sustainability matters. Passion alone isn’t enough. Consider your career path in project management and how you can grow professionally to provide greater financial security as time goes on. Pursue opportunities that support your long-term goals and sustainability.
Embrace Your Ikigai – Know Your Reason for Being
Embrace your ikigai!
As project managers, we have the opportunity to go beyond just managing projects to finding joy by making an impact and finding purpose in our careers.
There is so much satisfaction in knowing we truly make a difference.
So, consider this:
- Seek project management roles and industries that align with your personal passions and strengths.
- Invest in continuous learning opportunities.
- Advocate for projects that align with your values and interests.
- And always balance your career ambitions with your life goals and personal well-being.
Your ikigai is personal, powerful, and uniquely you – and it’s absolutely within your reach. You got this, project managers!
Book Recommendation:
The Ikigai Way will allow you to align your career with your true self by integrating Ikigai into your daily routines and strategic thinking. Project managers will learn how to harness their passions and skills in ways that not only benefit their professional growth, but also their personal satisfaction.
Who is Project Management Life (PML)?
Project Management Life (PML) is a team of passionate volunteer project managers who believe in the power of this incredible profession and provide our knowledge, guidance, and support to our colleagues.
We know that project managers are often the unsung heroes that drive innovation and progress, and bring calm to what might otherwise be chaos. We are the leaders behind the scenes that work tirelessly, and deserve to be celebrated for our incredible efforts in making the world a better place.
We founded PML on the idea that we can inspire each other with stories of success and valuable lessons learned, empower each other with career advice and resources to thrive both personally and professionally, and support each other to achieve a fulfilling work-life balance by focusing on our health and well-being.
By living our best life, we bring our best selves to our projects, our teams, and the world.
We truly believe that project managers change the world.
Join the PML Tribe Community
The PML Tribe Community is a growing online community of project managers supporting our fellow project managers. Whether you’re a new or experienced project manager, this is a place where we can connect, learn, celebrate, and support one another.
Get access to a weekly, members-only newsletter that is jam-packed with exclusive and curated content about project management, career growth and personal branding, health and well-being, personal self-improvement, professional development, work-life balance, and more. We are also launching an invite-only community forum, an exclusive clothing brand just for us called PML Tribal Gear, various PML podcasts, health and wellness classes, and so much more.
Join us today, and don’t miss out!
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Disclosure: This article may provide links to products or services that PML feels would be beneficial to our fellow project management colleagues and friends. In some cases, PML may be compensated for purchases made, at no cost to you. This is used to support the growth of the PML Tribe community and website, and we promise to continue to provide valuable content as we grow.
