Introducing me and why I have launched Seeking Ikigai
Have you ever felt like you haven’t yet found what it is you are really here for?
Have you ever felt like you haven’t yet found what it is you are really here for? If someone asked me what my reason for being is, would I have an intuitive answer beyond mother and wife? I am thinking about this in the context of my career as I’m now in the second half of it and wondering which direction I should be working towards next. What I’ve always thought of as an Ikigai Venn diagram, which I was surprised to read was described by it’s creator as a meme; http://theviewinside.wpengine.com/meme-seeding/, is something I frequently draw in my bullet journals over the years, but weirdly haven’t yet stumbled upon a process to come to any tangible conclusions.
So that’s been a niggle in my train of thoughts that I hadn’t really given enough credit to being there as often as it is. Marrying that with the fact I’ve been reading about and watching so many people talk about finding your authentic voice of authority and unique niche recently, it has coalesced in my mind into a vision that feels right to me to work through online. I’ve had a feeling of excitement and energy ever since I thought of it and I’ve been dying to get some quiet time at the weekend to sit down and start to write about that.
I’ve tried really hard to not be too perfectionist about this and that actually the process of developing and marketing a product is what could be interesting for others to see, so I haven’t spent very long knocking up a website and a couple of social channels. I am resisting the urge to have everything worked out before starting which is a little scary but I love the idea of developing an idea in public and finding my voice and people by diving in and getting started.
I know that I’m not going to be able to clearly articulate that straight away, so many ideas are whizzing through my brain at the moment that clarity will only come with time, writing consistently and starting to categorise.
I intentionally picked the words Seeking Ikigai, as I am seeking this sense of purpose for myself in terms of what I do next but also using it as an opportunity to see if this is something I can build that may help others get there more quickly than me.
Is it building up a list of reviews of existing methods? Is it a new method I am going to develop? Is it a careers tool I can build for young people to use before they have to make any choices that may limit them in the future? Is it an app or something that AI can help with? Is it something tangible that bullet journal fans will want to buy to stick into their books and work through at various points in their planning year? Is it a set of training courses? Is it digital assets? Is it video how tos? Is it a community of likeminded people who can lift each other up? Is it consultancy? Is it speaking at events?
It could be some or all of these things, or it could morph into something else I haven’t foreseen, I’m excited to find out!
There are four types of written content I am currently thinking of in particular;
METHOD RESEARCH & REVIEWS - I’m a fast reader and constantly curious, so I’m going to work through existing books and online resources that cover Ikigai and related topics, and will write up my thoughts and which bits work best for me.
ESSAYS ON DEVELOPING A METHOD - I am going to analyse the instinctive categories that I’ve come up with in the ‘What I love’ and ‘What the world needs boxes’ and write about these topics in more detail and as I do I will experiment with different ways I can then also apply some kind of scoring matrix to consider them against ‘What you are good at’ and ‘What you can be paid for’. I’m going to consider exercises that help you really get out all your most loved areas and then consider ways to help those be ranked and sorted into things that perhaps are more suited to hobbies or voluntary work and those that should be prioritised into your top 3 for career thinking, for example.
CAREERS & THE FUTURE WORLD OF WORK - this is the section that most directly overlaps with my current day job working in a Government team that’s stated aim is to; support the tech sector, developing and implementing a strategy to support sustainable economic growth and establishing our jurisdiction as a centre of international excellence for the digital economy. I love the role I’m in but I’m also ambitious and passionate about making as big a difference as possible so I need to consider where my skills can best be harnessed for maximum value to those around me, as well as me continually growing towards being the best person I can be. I’ve been involved in Digital Skills and Digital Inclusion work streams and those in particular make me reflect on how we can best equip the next generations to fulfil their potential.
BLOG/VLOG under the hood - documenting what I’ve learned and the tools that work well for me, hints and tips, metrics as the followers grow, a/b test what works and what doesn’t work for my initial target audience which is people like me. For me that means geeky and optimistic people who need to become more confident, to reach for the stars, share their voice, to not change to fit in and to help each other grow by sharing and championing each other and exploring a world where people pay for things that they value.
For those who prefer to watch or listen rather than read anything longer than a tweet (what is the new term going to be now it’s called X I wonder?), I am going to really push myself out of my comfort zone and record videos too but that’s something I am not as familiar with so that may take a little more time to get up and running confidently.
In terms of accountability and cadence I am going to publish at least one article and eventually also one video a week, probably Sunday if this weekend is anything to go by as I did my brainstorming on the Saturday and then started to write up properly today. There will be an initial flurry of writing I need to do though while also building up my website, for example I want to write an About Me page and I’m also really keen to write up a Mission & Values page too, I need to start a list of thank yous for inspiration with links which may also work as an essay.
Talking of which there are three inspirations in particular it would be remiss of me to not mention on this my inaugural post, because they were a big part of why I am now putting fingers to keyboard and committing to this journey;
The Not Boring site, by Packy McCormick and in particular their Weekly Dose of Optimism newsletter - I’ve learned so much but it is especially heartening to me to see a techie person writing about optimism, it always used to be more ‘fashionable’ to be cynical and amusing!
The concept of 1000 true fans is a fascinating one, and one that stopped me being paralysed by thinking that you have to reach millions of people to sell something or make a living as a creative person and/or online. I’ve definitely convinced 1000 people in my past roles to buy something I was selling, it’s such a more manageable number to have in your mind as a target! - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
There is someone in particular on LinkedIn who inspires me on a weekly basis as someone who has developed their niche and voice and a brand that is both personal and a thriving business. Lea Turner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lea-turner/) is definitely worth a follow, especially if you are a woman in the UK she’s a breath of fresh air and another person that is making me open my eyes to possibilities of building a community being something that people value. I’ve built online communities in the past, maybe that’s something I could do again!
So yes, that’s me, Sarah Seeking Ikigai and I look forward to sharing my journey with you and hope you will join me by following on socials and signing up to receiving my updates by email.
Sarah xxx