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Ikigai

Two ways to think about it. First, the small things that make an ordinary day feel worth it. Then, if you like, the four-circle version.

Small reasons to get up

List a few ordinary things that make a day feel worth it: people, a hobby, a routine. They can be small, and they don’t have to earn money or be work.

Nothing yet. One small thing is enough to start.

Places to look (our prompts)

A person you’re glad to see
Something you make, grow or fix
A routine you enjoy
A place you like being
Something you look forward to this week

In Japan, Marc Winn writes, it is often “something small and domestic, a morning walk, a grandchild, a garden”. Older Than You Think

The four-circle version

This is a modern diagram, not the Japanese word. Two of its four circles are about the market, and in Ken Mogi’s account neither is required. Where it comes from

What you love0

What you’re good at0

What the world needs0

What you can be paid for0

Tip: type the same thing into two boxes, or use the small buttons on an item, to put it in more than one circle.

Where your items overlap

No overlaps yet, and that is normal. As the article puts it: “If your four circles do not overlap, nothing has gone wrong.”

This tool needs JavaScript. It works on paper too: list a few small things that make a day feel worth it. Then, if you like, draw four overlapping circles (what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, what you can be paid for) and write each answer in every circle it fits.

About this tool

Ikigai: what it is and how to use it

Ikigai is a Japanese word for something that makes life worth living, and it can be small and private. This tool helps you list those everyday things, then try the four-circle ikigai chart and see where your answers overlap. It is free, runs in your browser and keeps your lists on your own device.

What ikigai means, and where the four circles come from

The Japanese dictionary Digital Daijisen defines the word roughly as "something worth living for; the zest and joy of going on living". The Japanese government's English-language magazine describes it as reaching "from people, such as one's children or friends, to activities including work and hobbies".

The four-circle chart is much newer. As our ikigai article puts it, the ikigai version "was published on 14 May 2014 by the blogger Marc Winn", who later wrote that it began as a purpose Venn diagram by Andrés Zuzunaga. Its circles ask what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for.

Ken Mogi, the neuroscientist who wrote The Little Book of Ikigai, said in a talk transcribed in January 2022 that the chart may help Western readers structure what motivates them, but that reading the overlap of all four circles as the meaning is "too narrow of a definition for ikigai". His example: "if you love to paint a picture, and you're not paid for that, that is ikigai".

So the tool keeps the two ideas apart. Our suggestion, as in the article: use the chart as a check on work, not a test of a life.

How to use it

Under Small reasons to get up, add a few ordinary things that make a day feel worth it, one at a time. The prompts beside the list help if you get stuck.
In The four-circle version, add short items to each box: what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, what you can be paid for.
To put an item in more than one circle, type it into another box or press the small circle buttons under it.
Read the drawing and the list below it to see which items sit in two, three or all four circles.
Press Copy summary to keep a copy, since the lists live only in this browser.

An example

Say walking the dog before work, a Sunday call with your sister and fixing friends' bikes are what make your weeks feel good. List all three in part one. In the circles, bike fixing might land in what you love and what you're good at, but not in what you can be paid for. The chart then shows a gap in work, not a gap in your life.

Questions people ask

What does ikigai mean?

It is a Japanese word for something that makes life worth living. A Japanese dictionary defines it roughly as something worth living for, the zest and joy of going on living.

Is the ikigai Venn diagram Japanese?

The word is Japanese, but the four-circle chart was published in 2014 by the blogger Marc Winn, who wrote that it began as a purpose diagram by Andrés Zuzunaga.

Does your ikigai have to be your job?

Not in the Japanese sense. In Ken Mogi's account, a hobby you are not paid for can be ikigai, and so can something you are not good at.

What if my four circles don't overlap?

Nothing has gone wrong. The overlap is a way to test a job or a plan against four questions, not a measure of whether your life has meaning.

Sources

Your lists are kept in this browser only and are never sent to us. Clearing your browser data or using a private window removes them, so copy your summary if you want to keep it.