#305: The One Ikigai Question to Ask Yourself in Every Career or Life Transition

What if the questions you have been asking about your career or life transition are the very reason the answers keep slipping away from you?

Most women in midlife spend years asking what they want, what is missing, and what is wrong with them. Those questions feel productive. They feel like the right place to start. But they have a hidden cost - they keep you looking inward at what you lack, and the more you look, the deeper the stuckness grows. This Thursday mini episode builds on Episode 304 and offers the one ikigai question that quietly changes everything - not by giving you a new answer, but by shifting the energy from which you begin to look.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why asking "what do I want?" during a career or life transition almost always makes the uncertainty feel worse - and what happens the moment you turn the question around and ask what the world right in front of you needs instead
• How the shift from catabolic to anabolic energy is not just a mindset change but a real, practical shift in what you can see and receive during a midlife career transition - including the opportunities and conversations that were already there
• A simple two-minute daily practice to sit with this ikigai question this week - one that does not require grand answers, only honest attention to the people, moments, and small invitations already showing up in your life

Press play to discover the one question that can move you from circling to clarity in your career or life transition - and why the world is already showing you the answer if you are in the energy to receive it.

If this episode is resonating, the free 28-Day Confidence Guide is the natural next step - 28 days of short video lessons from Kavita to help you build the confidence to act on what this question reveals.

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This podcast explores career and life transitions, helping women find clarity, confidence, and purpose through Ikigai and self-discovery. We cover navigating change, overcoming self-doubt and limiting beliefs, finding your purpose-driven career, and building the courage to start your next chapter - whether you're facing a career transition, life transition, or midlife reinvention.

Transcript

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In this episode, you'll discover one Ikigai question to sit with this week, the one that can completely shift how you see your work and your role in the world. Welcome to the Midlife Reinvention Podcast, a podcast helping women in career and life transitions achieve clarity on their next steps so they can transform uncertainty into an energizing next chapter. I'm your host, Kavita Ahuja, and the founder of It's My Time Now Coaching. If you're wondering what's next in your career or life, you are in the right place. Through solo and guest episodes, you'll gain practical tips, tools, and inspiration to help you uncover blocks, gain confidence, and be, do, and have what you want. I rediscovered myself after the age of 50, and I know you can too. It's my time now to help you do just that. I'm so excited you're here. Let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Midlife Reinvention Podcast. It's your coach Kibita with your Thursday check-in. On Monday I shared three Ikigai lessons for my own midlife transition and my son's wedding. If you haven't listened to it yet, I would suggest going back to episode 304 first, because today really builds on it. Today I want to focus on one of those three lessons. The one I think is the most quietly powerful. The question what does the world need? The question what does the world need is one of the four pillars of Ikikai, or the Japanese concept for reason for being. And in a midlife transition, it can change everything. Here is what I've noticed in years of working with women like you. Most of us are trained to ask the wrong questions. We ask, what do I want? What is missing from my life? What is wrong with me? And those questions, well-intentioned as they are, almost always send us deeper into stuckness. Because they keep us looking inwards at what we lack. But the moment you shift and turn the question around and ask, what does the world need? Something shifts inside of you. You stop looking at your life as a problem to solve, and you start looking at it as a resource, something that has value, something that can be offered. And this is especially true in midlife. Because by the time we reach the stage of life we have skills and wisdom and experience and perspective. We have lived pretty full lives. The question is no longer what can I become, it is what do I have to give? And here's the part I really want you to get. The word world doesn't mean some grand abstract idea of humanity. The world is what is right in front of you right now. The world is your family, your colleagues, your community, the woman behind you at the lion at the coffee shop, the friend who has not been well lately. The cause that keeps tugging at your heart that you have been too busy to act on. Watching my son and his bride plan their wedding was a masterclass in this. They did not ask what do we want? They asked, what do our people need? And the result was magic. The world responds to people who are giving rather than grasping. I see this with my clients all the time. When a woman is deep in a career transition and feeling lost, the breakthrough almost never comes from asking, What job do I want next? It comes from asking, who do I want to serve, and why? The specific path reveals itself only after the contribution question is answered. Here is the shift this question can create in your own transition. And is not only a mental shift, it is an energetic one. When you are stuck asking, what do I want, what is missing or what is wrong, you are operating from what is called catabolic energy. It is contracted, it is closed, and it is the energy of fixing, fighting, and resisting. And when you are in this energy, the world cannot reach you. People can be trying to help, opportunities can be right in front of you, but you cannot see them, because the lens you are looking through is filtered for problems. But the moment you turn the question around and ask what does the world need from me, you shift into anabolic energy. Anabolic energy is expansive, it is open, and it is the energy of contribution, possibility, and creation. And when you are in that energy, something extraordinary happens. You become receptive. The same people are around you, the same circumstances, the same conversations, but suddenly you can see them. You notice the friend who needs help. You hear the conversation that hints at your next chapter. You catch the small invitation that turns out to be the door that you have been looking for. That is why the answer arrives faster than you would expect when you ask this question. It's not magic, it is energetic alignment. The world is always showing you, but you have to be in the energy that can receive it. That is your Ikigai whispering to you. Your reason for being is hidden inside the question. What does the world need from me? And the energy of that question is what opens you to the answer. So here is what I want you to sit with this week. Take a quiet moment, maybe in the morning before the day starts, maybe before you fall asleep tonight, and ask yourself this question. What does the world right in front of me need that only I can give? Don't force the answer. Don't try to make it grand. Pay attention to the small things, the people, the moments, the conversations. The world is always showing you. You only need to be in the energy to receive it. If you do this every day this week, even for two minutes, you'll notice something shift, and the world will start answering back. If this Thursday check-in is landing for you, my 28 days to building confidence guide is a beautiful place to continue this work. It gives you 28 days of short video lessons for me to walk you through building the confidence to actually act on what the world is asking of you. The link is in the show notes. And remember, my friend, you get to decide what comes next. So say it with me and say it with confidence. It's my time now.