16: Unlock The Power Of Ikigai To Live Your Best Life

In this episode, Kimberly and Terry explore the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai, which translates to 'reason for being.' Tune in to discover the four essential elements of Ikigai that will help you find purpose and live to your full potential. 

They share personal insights and practical tips on how to identify and achieve your Ikigai, encouraging you to reflect on your passions and take inspired action toward living a fulfilling life.

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Stay Connected with Kimberly:
- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

Hey, Kimberly Spreen Glick here. And Terry Shorter as well. Welcome back. We are talking today about Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese concept and philosophy that translates to reason for being. It represents the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for, which guides you to a life of purpose and fulfillment. Yes. And so these four elements of Ikigai that

Kimberly just mentioned, we're going to break down one at a time to kind of take you step by step through it and then kind of talk about how you can achieve these elements as well. So the first element of Ikegai is like Kimberly said, doing what you love, finding your passion, whatever that may be, whether, you know, it's teaching group exercise, for example, I think we found what we love, right? And

These are activities that truly bring you joy and make you feel alive. And even perhaps as we talked about in the last episode, in episode 15, put you in a place of flow. Absolutely. Right. And so, you know, doing what you love, what is it that you love doing that kind of takes you into that first element? For me, it's teaching. Okay. Absolutely teaching. I was just assuming. Yeah. Yeah. could assume on that one. The assuming doesn't make you.

Right, or me. Yeah. Right. And you? Shall we assume the same? Same thing. Same exact thing. Teaching, group exercise, love doing that, sharing this passion with others and hopefully they can see, feel and just sense that passion. That's the hope. I think that's why we're enjoying this so much because A, I mean, it gives us a reason to hang out because we actually kind of like each other. But B,

It's our ability to continue to teach outside of, you know, the classes that we teach. So it's just another opportunity to do what we're passionate about. Absolutely. And so that's the first element of Ikegai, doing what you love. And the second element is what are you good at? So what is your vocation? So your skills, your talents that you excel in. Now we could think about talent as something that is given, something we are born with.

Kimberly/terry (02:14.517)
But even something that you are born with, something that you're of innately good at, is something we have to hone over time. So is there something that you find you're good at or people tell you you're good at? Or is there a skill that you've taken the time to learn that you enjoy that you are willing to continue to hone? Because I think it's an ongoing journey, an ongoing process. Even we always hear about Mozart being such a phenomenal musician and the fact that he could hear something and then play it. But the fact is he's

He practiced like hours and hours every single day to continue to hone his craft. So what are you good at? So Terry, what are you good at? That is a loaded question, ladies and gentlemen. Terry Shorter, what are you good at? You know, I like to think that I am good at moving, just movements, you know, the are good at moving. Have you ever seen him dance? It is ridiculous. Just moving my body in different ways. You know, I enjoy,

you know, that mastery of movement, not just one style of dance, not just one style of our genre, modality of fitness. I love it all. So there's kickboxing. I love moving my body in that way. Whether it's hip hop or maybe it's Broadway style dance or yoga. the thriller. Thriller, right? A little Michael Jackson action. what about you? What do you feel like you excel in when it comes to your skill? I think for me,

communication and the ability to simplify otherwise complicated ideas, concepts, topics. I think that that's something that I've had a good ability to do, which definitely comes to life in my teaching. I really here on the microphone, on the podcast, for sure. On the microphone. So for sure. So what you're good at is the second part of Ikigai. And the third part is what the world.

needs, other words, your mission, in other words, ways that you can contribute to others or make a positive impact. Yeah. Right. It's huge. And so again, you know, for us, hopefully you can tell that this is our passion. Hopefully you can tell that this is what we at least believe that we're good at. I think we're okay. Like, I know you're good at it. I think you're great at it. So what the heck. There we go. We got that going for us.

Kimberly/terry (04:38.7)
And so, you by putting group X appeal together, you know, for example, we felt that the world needed, you know, an abbreviated way of getting information about how they can better people can better their lives. How can they can find or discover well-being in the most simplified way possible? Yeah. So here we are. Here we are. That's our that's our this is our mission. It is definitely. This is our mission. I love it.

So then we come to number four. Now, it's great if you love it. It's great if you're good at it and you're willing to continue to hone it. And if the world needs it, all the better. But can you get paid for it? Because that's number four. It's what can you be paid for? That makes it your profession now. So your skills and services that you can provide, do they in return, is there an exchange of energy there where you now receive financial support from the work that you're doing? That's the question.

That's the big question. That's probably the biggest challenge for a lot of people. That's, I would have to say that's the biggest obstacle. Yeah. You know, because they, they may think, I have a passion for this. I love doing this and I'm great at this. And yeah, I think the world needs this, but how the heck am I going to make money at doing this? How can I financially support myself and in these endeavors? And so that kind of leads us to how to achieve Ikegai because you truly need

all four of these elements to come together for all these different worlds collide in order for it to be considered the philosophy of Ikigai. And so some of the tips that we would have to achieve that, the very first one would be, first of all, reflect on each of these four elements that we just shared and identify kind of where they overlap perhaps in your life. How do they or do they overlap at all? Right. Right. Yeah.

So when you think about maybe the first one, what do you love to do? So what are the activities that spark joy? The things that when you think about going to do them, you don't dread it, you actually look forward to it. That's huge. That is huge. That is absolutely huge. And when it comes to what are you good at, this one, I remember I had a business coach when I first started my online platform, and she asked me, what do people tend to come to you for?

Kimberly/terry (07:01.518)
or what do they tell you about you? What do other people tell you you're good at? And I've realized that sometimes people who aren't in the game, playing the game of your life, have some great perspective. for sure. And then the third element, does the world need whatever it is that you enjoy doing or have a passion for? There's different ways, like Kimberly said, that feedback, that immediate feedback from other people is a help.

You can literally, there's this really cool invention that's out there, it's called Google. what? And you can literally, if there's something that you're interested, you have a passion for and that again, that you're good at, type in, know, the need out there in the marketplace and see if that's even a thing. Yeah. Right. And nine chance out of 10, there is a need for it. Finding that niche and pursuing it, going after it. If there can be.

a sock store at the Mall of America that sells absolutely nothing. Nothing but socks. But hundreds of different pairs of socks with different designs. Like whatever it is that you are passionate about and is a skill you bring to the table that the world probably needs it. That's funny that you mentioned that because I liken that to anytime I pass by this yarn store, big old yarn store and I'm like that's a lot of property, that's a lot of store space.

for yarn. They're paying rent based on selling yarn. Right. That's amazing. Yeah. So there's definitely a need out there for if there's a need for yarn, there's most likely a need for whatever it is that you have a passion for and that you're good at. But it is smart to test it. So I think that that was smart. It absolutely is. You give smart advice. So we get smart. We get smart. So what are some other things that you can do? You know, I think that

challenging yourself to pursue activities and set goals for yourself that align with the four areas that help kind of create balance and purpose, which means like sometimes it's about exploring. So we talked about reflecting on the four and there may be certain aspects of the four that you think, I'm not sure. Well, guess what? It's time to explore. It's time to see if there are some activities out there, some goals you can set for yourself to learn new things that will allow you to

Kimberly/terry (09:24.86)
you know, create the balance and find the purpose. And I think balance, think harmony is my word now. That's a great word. Yeah, create harmony and alignment with, you know, what brings you joy when you're out there living your life every day. Yeah. And another thing that we can share this, actually, we're going to expand on in the next episode on you mentioned goals, right? So goal setting, we're gonna be talking about that. I'm not gonna give it away, but

one of the elements of our goal setting episode that we are going to be talking about is reassess and adapt as your passions, your skills and your circumstances evolve. Because if you are practicing your passion, you're living your passion in on a consistent basis, you are bound to get better. You are bound to grow. You are bound to evolve. It's going to happen. So that means you're going to have to reassess and again, adapt what, what it's where that skill set is looking like and, and act accordingly.

So in addition to all of that, there's another Japanese philosophy that comes to mind, which we'll cover in a future episode. and that is Kaizen, know, Kaizen is, is all about, you know, the simplest way to understand Kaizen is that it's more about progress than perfection because you know what the, the, line, the road to success, it's not just a straight line. It's more like a peaks and roller coaster that has been twisted into a pretzel.

You know, you're up, you're down, you're back, you're forward, and every time you drop down or you fall back, you learn whatever lessons you need to learn to pick yourself up and move forward again. So the encouragement from us is to take small steps. Just take those inspired actions each day toward living in alignment, in harmony with your ikigai. So if you've thought about, you've reflected on, and really taken in those four aspects of ikigai, and you have a feeling like this is,

this is what I feel passionate about. It's what I'm good at. I think the world needs it and I think I could get paid for it. Then it's time to take action, you know? So take some inspired action toward the, Ikigai , the purpose that you're feeling for yourself. Absolutely. And those steps that you take, again, practicing Kaizen step piece by piece, chunk by chunk at a time. it's not about perfection. It's not about, you know,

Kimberly/terry (11:47.752)
making sure that you're hitting home runs every time you go to bat, just about finding joy every time you go to bat, finding meaning, like you said, harmony, right, along the journey, and that's gonna make the biggest difference in achieving, experiencing, and realizing this concept of ikigai. Ikigai! I have to say it like that, sorry. As you should, say it like that every time. And I was mentioning to Kimberly,

earlier that Ikigai is not to be confused with another Japanese word called Kichigai. And you have to say it just like that too. Kichigai means crazy. Kichigai. Kichigai. Did I do it right? Yeah, that was really good. You're such a natural. So I will now call you Kimberly-san. I'm a natural Japanese person. I love that. That's awesome. So I'm sorry, what did it mean? Kichigai? Yeah. Crazy. Crazy. Yeah. So

Let's go with Ikigai. Ikigai, right. So don't be crazy. We want you to live your purpose, your reason for being. So those are the four elements of Ikigai. Again, doing what you love. What you're good at. Mm-hmm. Doing what the world needs. And what you can be paid for. Yeah. And that's how you can find that, you know, live that, that philosophy that hopefully I feel like we're living it.

I think we're living it. Yeah. And it feels good. It feels fantastic. Yeah. We're Ikegaiing it up. Ikegaiing the house. So let us know, you know, let us know those four things. What is it that you love? What is it that you're great at? What does, what do you do that you feel the world needs and can you get paid for it? We say yes, you absolutely can. Yeah. But anything else you can think of? No, thank you so much for tuning in, for joining us today, wherever you may be doing that from.

We appreciate you, we appreciate your support. It's your support that allows us to continue to live out our Iki guy. So thank you. Please do feel free to share this episode. Maybe there's either it's you or someone in your life that could use a bit of inspiration as you try to find purpose. I can't tell you how many of my clients that I've worked with over the years as a wellness and life coach who have come to me saying, I don't know my purpose. I want to find my purpose. Well, if you're potentially struggling with that question or you know someone who is.

Kimberly/terry (14:10.122)
please share this with them because we wanna help support you on your journey. yeah. Yes, that would bring us much happiness, much joy for sure. And so with that being said, we truly again appreciate your time, your energy of love. And until next time, as always, we encourage you to make it a great day. And why? Because it is a great day to have. It is. Take care. Much love. Peace out.