How to Ikigai | Tim Tamashiro | TEDxYYC
Summary
TLDRThe speaker introduces 'iki guy,' a Japanese concept representing one's life's purpose, akin to a treasure map guiding individuals to discover and share their unique qualities with the world. He shares his personal journey of self-discovery, from quitting a stable job to pursuing various exciting endeavors, ultimately finding his iki guy in delighting others. He encourages the audience to explore their iki guy through part-time projects or side hustles, emphasizing the importance of aligning one's passion with the world's needs and being rewarded for it, suggesting a path to a meaningful and joyful life.
Takeaways
- 😊 The word 'Ikigai' is pronounced 'iki-guy,' and it means 'life's purpose.'
- 🌟 Ikigai is like a treasure map that helps you find and share wonderful things about yourself with the world.
- 💼 The speaker distinguishes between a job (regular employment for money) and work (something done to achieve a meaningful result).
- 🌍 Ikigai has four directions: do what you love, do what you're good at, do what the world needs, and do what you can be rewarded for.
- 🥋 The speaker compares Ikigai to karate, suggesting you can earn 'belts' or degrees in Ikigai as you progress.
- 🎶 The speaker's personal Ikigai is to delight, which they express in various activities like music, travel, and helping others.
- ⌛ Ikigai can start part-time by focusing on what you love and are good at during your free time, potentially growing into a full-time pursuit.
- 💡 A side hustle can help turn part-time Ikigai into a full-time endeavor, while a side helpful focuses on activities that broaden your heart and happiness.
- 🧘 According to a course at Yale University, real happiness comes from kindness, meditation, time affluence, and spending time with friends and family.
- 🏆 Ikigai is an action verb, and it can be something you enjoy every day, eventually leading to a meaningful life.
Q & A
What is the correct pronunciation of 'iki guy'?
-The correct pronunciation of 'iki guy' is with a smiling expression, lifting the cheeks as if smiling, and it sounds like 'ee-kee guy'.
What does the speaker suggest 'iki guy' represents?
-The speaker suggests that 'iki guy' represents a treasure map that can guide one to discover wonderful things about oneself to share with the world.
Why did the speaker quit his job at CBC Radio 2?
-The speaker quit his job at CBC Radio 2 to focus on his work, which is something he does to achieve a result or purpose, rather than just for regular employment.
What is the difference between a 'job' and 'work' as described by the speaker?
-A 'job' is described as a regular form of employment for monetary compensation, while 'work' is something done to achieve a result, such as a product or a more meaningful purpose.
What significant experiences did the speaker have in the past year?
-The speaker traveled to Oregon to see a full eclipse, went on an icebreaker across the Northwest Passage, visited Canada's north coast, helped build houses in the Dominican Republic, filmed a documentary, and took a family trip to Okinawa, Japan.
Why is Okinawa special to the speaker?
-Okinawa is special to the speaker because it is where the speaker's grandparents were born, and it is also the origin of 'iki guy', a concept that resonates with the speaker.
What is the meaning of 'karate' in Japanese?
-In Japanese, 'karate' is a combination of two words: 'kara' meaning 'empty' and 'te' meaning 'hand', which literally translates to 'empty hand'.
What does 'iki guy' stand for in terms of life's purpose?
-'Iki guy' stands for 'life's purpose', with 'iki' meaning 'life' and 'guy' being a representation of 'purpose'.
What is the speaker's iki guy according to the script?
-The speaker's iki guy is to 'delight', which is the purpose he aims to fulfill in his interactions and work.
How does the speaker suggest one can start discovering their iki guy?
-The speaker suggests starting part-time, focusing on what one loves and is good at, and considering side hustles or side helpful activities to explore one's iki guy.
What is the formula for iki guy as presented by the speaker?
-The formula for iki guy is time affluence plus your gifts plus rewards in return, which can be practiced repeatedly to enrich one's life.
What is the significance of earning 'belts' in the context of iki guy?
-Earning 'belts' in the context of iki guy signifies progress and mastery in understanding and living one's life's purpose, similar to the ranks in martial arts like karate.
Outlines
🌟 Embracing the 'Ikki Guy' Philosophy
The speaker introduces the concept of 'Ikki Guy', a term derived from Okinawa, Japan, which translates to 'life's purpose'. They emphasize the importance of finding one's purpose and sharing it with the world. The speaker shares personal experiences, including quitting a job to focus on meaningful work, traveling, and creating various projects. They highlight the significance of Okinawa, where their grandparents were born, and the influence of 'Ikki Guy' in their life. The speaker also connects the idea to the origin of karate, another Okinawan concept, emphasizing the resilience and adaptability of the Okinawan people.
🎓 Discovering Your Life's Purpose Through 'Ikki Guy'
The speaker delves deeper into the 'Ikki Guy' philosophy, explaining it as a guide to finding one's life purpose. They break down the concept into four directions: doing what you love, doing what you're good at, doing what the world needs, and doing what you can be rewarded for. The speaker shares their personal journey of discovering their 'Ikki Guy', which they define as 'to delight'. They encourage the audience to start part-time, exploring their passions and talents, and suggests that one can earn 'belts' in 'Ikki Guy', similar to martial arts. The speaker also discusses the importance of time affluence and the impact of kindness and meditation on happiness.
💪 Pursuing a Meaningful Life with 'Ikki Guy'
The speaker concludes by emphasizing the action-oriented nature of 'Ikki Guy', describing it as a verb that involves serving, creating, delighting, nourishing, providing, teaching, healing, and connecting. They highlight the importance of starting small and gradually building up to a full-time pursuit of one's life purpose. The speaker also introduces the concept of earning 'belts' in 'Ikki Guy', starting with a yellow belt and working towards a black belt. They encourage the audience to embrace the 'Ikki Guy' philosophy, promising a richer and more meaningful life through the pursuit of one's purpose.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Iki Guy
💡Pronunciation
💡Treasure Map
💡Work
💡Job
💡Passion
💡Purpose
💡Side Hustle
💡Karate
💡Yellow Belt
💡Delight
💡Part-Time
💡Time Affluence
Highlights
Introduction of the concept of 'ikigai' - a Japanese word for finding one's purpose and passion.
Emphasizing the importance of enthusiasm and engagement in the audience.
The speaker quit his job at CBC Radio 2 to focus on his ikigai journey.
Differentiating between a 'job' as regular employment and 'work' as pursuing a meaningful result.
The speaker's personal experiences traveling and exploring his passions as part of finding his ikigai.
Connection between the speaker's family roots and the concept of ikigai originating from Okinawa, Japan.
Drawing a parallel between the spread of karate from Okinawa and the potential global impact of ikigai.
Defining ikigai as 'life's purpose' and breaking it down into four directions: love, skill, need, and reward.
The idea of earning 'belts' in ikigai, similar to martial arts, to represent progress.
The speaker's personal ikigai is to 'delight' others through various interactions and performances.
Encouraging the audience to start exploring their ikigai part-time and gradually.
Mention of the high percentage of Millennials with side hustles as a way to pursue ikigai.
The concept of 'side helpful' as an alternative to side hustles for those motivated by broader purposes.
Laurie Santos' course on the science of well-being and its relevance to finding ikigai.
Ikigai as an action word, with verbs like serve, create, delight, nourish, and connect.
The formula for ikigai: time affluence + personal gifts + rewards in return.
The idea that a meaningful life is not a destination but an ongoing journey of joy and fulfillment.
Invitation to the audience to embark on their own ikigai journey with the provided map as guidance.
Transcripts
[Music]
everybody how enthusiastic are we today
[Music]
yeah no indifference in this crowd
that's for sure that's what I like to
see today I want to tell you about an
amazing word and it's that word right
there that word first thing you have to
learn is how to pronounce it it's
pronounced iki guy you lift your cheeks
like you're smiling it's iki guys say it
with me
iki guy you got it that's right it's not
pronounced iki guy if I was wearing a
lime green four-speed oh that would be
an achy guy
this is iki guy and the most wonderful
thing about this word is that first off
it's a good-looking word but secondly
this word is really like a treasure map
and this treasure map can help you find
your way to finding wonderful things
about yourself that you can share with
the world and the world will say thank
you for it
so let me tell you all about it but
first they have to warn you it takes
work
now I had a job once upon a time about
this time last year had a radio host job
at CBC Radio 2 was wonderful I enjoyed
it thoroughly it was so good however I
quit my job I quit my job so I could
focus on my work instead so let's just
clarify that a job in this context is
something that you do as a regular form
of employment it's what you get you know
money to do so you can pay for your
house and for your food and things like
that work on the other hand work is
something that you do in order to
achieve a result something like a
product or maybe even something like a
purpose like maybe like a more
meaningful you sounds good doesn't that
so this last year my work focused on
anything that I could do
that was exciting that was interesting
to me I went on a trip to Oregon and I
saw the full Eclipse with my full eyes I
also went on a icebreaker and I traveled
across the Northwest Passage I went to
Canada's north coast I also traveled
with my family and some dear friends we
went to Dominican Republic we helped
build houses for people and I filmed a
documentary and I also did all sorts of
little projects as well and I had a
podcast for a while I did I wrote a play
that was a musical I also did a Facebook
live talk but probably more precious
than anything is that I finally got to
go on a family trip to Okinawa Japan now
Okinawa is very precious to me because
it's a place where my grandparents were
born it's also the place where a key guy
comes from I've always felt something
urging me to get out and to do special
things in my life and I think it was a
key guy that did it
Okinawa by the way is a place that the
most 100 year olds in the world live per
capita 100 year olds are revered and
respected but Okinawa was very very
special to me because of the connections
to my family and a key guy and I was
thinking boy why couldn't this whole
Ikki guy thing spread around the world
well it is possible and there is another
idea that came from Okinawa that you've
heard of its karate karate kid'
Danielsson
karate is actually two words in Japanese
Cara which means empty and Tay which
means hand so it literally translates to
empty hand now in 1609 the Japanese
forces invaded Okinawa it was called
real cool islands back then Oh
basically they won the battle and they
said to the Okinawan okay you can't have
weapons anymore
give us your weapons and the Okinawan
said okay here you go
our hands will be our weapons they had
already invented karate they didn't call
it karate yet but they knew that they
had a special form of self-defense then
in the Second World War there was
another terrible battle that happened in
Okinawa and it was the American forces
this time fighting the Japanese forces
history shows that the American forces
won the Battle of Okinawa and they have
been stationed there ever since and
since then the American soldiers have
witnessed karate for the first time and
they said hey this is pretty cool I want
to learn karate too so they learned it
and eventually they will take it back to
the United States and it started to
spread and spread and spread now
everybody knows about karate right
daniel-san that other concept becomes
from Okinawa is iki guy iki guy is two
words as well iki means life guy purpose
iki guy is life's purpose isn't that a
beautiful word it's a lovely word thank
you for your indifference
this is what it means this is the
treasure map a key guy has four
directions do what you love do what
you're good at
do what the world needs and do what you
can be rewarded for it seems simple but
it's difficult now I would estimate that
a key guy similar to karate in that you
can earn degrees or belts in it as well
you have to start someplace and I think
that I got my yellow belt when I was 20
years old sexy time
I was 20 years old and I was living at
my parents house and I remember laying
in bed one day thinking to myself what
am I gonna do for the rest of my life
that would be interesting and fun I
didn't want to just go get a job I
wanted to focus on my work and like a
bolt of lightning it hit me and I sat up
in bed and I said I am going to go to
music school so that's what I did I went
to music school for two years and then
from that moment on I focused on nothing
but music aspects in my life
I've done all sorts of amazing things in
my life I work for a record company
called MCA records I also made six jazz
albums I've performed all over the
country I had that 10 year career at CBC
Radio - six nights a week writing 70
stories every week it was such an
amazing career but then they came to
realize something that I enjoyed myself
but I didn't really know why I was doing
it I didn't I knew what I wanted to do
or what I love to do and what I was good
at but they didn't understand why I was
doing it and why the world needed that
so I spent this last year figuring out
what my ikki guy is and I boil it down
into a two-word phrase my ikki guy is to
delight to delight that's what I go out
for every day
the world where that I'm talking with a
clerk at the grocery store or if I'm
singing a song on stage or if I'm on the
radio or if I'm giving a TED talk to you
wildly attractive people right now my
iki guy is two delight I throw it out
into the world and I get it back in
return it's the full cycle now you're
probably wondering to yourself well
that's great Tim well now we know what
Eureka guy is what is my iki guy let me
give you some directions on how you
might be able to start figuring that out
I suggest the start part-time part-time
icky guy is within reach right it is
very within reach and I'll tell you
something when you look at there and you
see on the screen that there are two
sections of the day where you don't
really do anything that adds up to eight
hours you can focus your work on the
five to nine hours of the day okay start
part time figure out what you love to do
and what you're good at
spend time on that for as long as you
like and there's a couple of ways you
can do that you can start a side hustle
or you can do a side helpful a side
hustle by the way there's a lot of
Millennials that have side hustles up to
fifty percent of Millennials have side
hustles according to studies 50 percent
and why do they have those side hustles
it's because it gives them the
opportunity to be able to do what
they're good at and do what they love
and it opens up the opportunity to be
able to transfer that part-time Niki guy
into maybe full-time a key guy down the
road and it doesn't hurt that you can
make a little bit of money off it either
right
but what if money isn't necessarily
behind you're a key guy maybe you want
to just broaden your heart well you can
do a side helpful instead at Yale
University professor Laurie Santos
teaches a course that is called the
science of well-being and this course
she takes time to be able to explain
that we are really really bad at
figuring out what it is that we are
going to make us happy so things like
and job and your good looks and your big
house they really have no impact on your
base level of happiness
what does have an impact are things like
kindness and meditation time affluence
in other words doing with your time what
you want to do with your time and
spending time with friends and family a
key guy is an action it's a verb to
serve to create to delight to nourish to
provide to teach to heal to connect to
build is there any verb on that list
that resonates with somebody in the
crowd nod your head if there is yes yeah
there's some nodding happening down here
yes so we put up your hand if you see
something up there that's accept I have
some yellow belt this is good go over
your words your hand there we go here's
a yellow belt for you we've got a yellow
belt in the front row over there and
there's got to be somebody over there
there's a yellow belt right there you
have earned your yellow belt and a key
guy you know what you're good at you
know what you love to do looks good on
you a key guy is as reliable as a
mathematical equation a key guy equals
time affluence plus your gifts plus
rewards in return and you can do it over
and over and over again and you're going
to be so much richer because of it your
meaningful life is not a destination you
have to get to your meaningful life is
something you can enjoy right now and
anytime you want to okay a little bit of
joy every day is going to add up to a
lifetime of joy isn't it
and when you finally get the chance to
spend time getting to know what you do
or what you love and what you're good at
you're a key guy will start to come into
light and eventually over time you will
earn your black belt your meaningful
life is going to be a lot of work
but I think you really already know this
that you are worth the work
and now you have the guy map to show you
how so I invite you to try iki guy thank
you
[Applause]
by
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