Livelihood
Ikigai 生き甲斐
How You Make a Living That Matters
“That land is my Ikigai. Not what I'm being paid for today. What I'm being pulled towards.”
From the book Purpose · Chapter 1
This is the dimension most often mistaken for Purpose itself. When someone asks if you've found your purpose, Livelihood is usually what they mean: how you make a living. Your day-to-day work. What you're known for, what you're paid for and what effectively consumes all your waking hours. It's also the dimension our culture talks about loudest. There's an entire industry built around Livelihood: career coaches, business schools, the self-help shelves in airports. They all promise the same thing: find the right work and you'll be whole - not true.
When Livelihood is bright, you wake up with energy for the day ahead. Real energy - the work engages you, even the hard parts. What you do every day matters to others and to you. The money isn't the only reason you do it.
When Livelihood is dim, the paycheck buys a life that doesn't energise you. Sunday evenings carry a weight. The clock moves slowly. Somewhere along the way you forgot what used to pull you to the work. The days might look impressive; they don't fill you.
Most adults have been in both states. Many move between them over a lifetime, sometimes by choice, sometimes through crisis. Few have found the perfect work. The real test is whether the work you're doing right now, in this season of your life, is in alignment with who you are.
The Four Archetypes
Heart, Mastery, Call, Return — together they form this dimension. Open to see the book Venn and rate yourself across the four.
The Four Archetypes
Heart, Mastery, Call, Return — together they form this dimension. Open to see the book Venn and rate yourself across the four.
From Chapter 2 of Purpose by Andre Raoul Jankowitz.
Where do you stand?
12 statements across 4 archetypes. Rate each honestly — the truth is the gift.
Incarnate Chi
The energetic source of your Livelihood — felt as bright (alive, flowing) or dim (starved, blocked). Below: how each shows up.
Incarnate Chi
The energetic source of your Livelihood — felt as bright (alive, flowing) or dim (starved, blocked). Below: how each shows up.
The energy of being in your body while you do your work. Not thinking about your work. Not planning your work. Being in your body while the work happens through you.
Your work is somatic. You feel it in your hands, your spine, your breath. You stop at the end of a focused hour and the body feels worked, not wrung out. You sleep. You wake up energised, not braced.
Your work is escape. You leave the body to get the work done, and you can never quite return. The work might be brilliant. The body is in revolt.
The Four Circles
Heart, Mastery, Call, and Return — the four archetypes that together make a working life. Each can be bright (alive) or dim (starved). When all four are bright, work becomes livelihood: not just a job, but a living that matters.
The Four Circles
Heart, Mastery, Call, and Return — the four archetypes that together make a working life. Each can be bright (alive) or dim (starved). When all four are bright, work becomes livelihood: not just a job, but a living that matters.
Heart
What You Love
When Heart is bright in your work, time disappears. You finish things and don't notice the clock. The work energises you while you do it, even on the hard days.
When Heart is dim, the work is something you survive. You count down to weekends. You feel a small contraction every Sunday evening. You've forgotten what you were curious about before all this.
Mastery
What You're Good At
When Mastery is bright, you do work that other people recognise. They ask you for what you uniquely offer. You can feel yourself getting better, not just maintaining what you had.
When Mastery is dim, you're going through the motions. Either you've outgrown the work and aren't being stretched anymore, or you're in something you haven't yet built the skill for.
Call
What the World Needs
When Call is bright, you can name who benefits from your work. You see the difference it makes. People come back, refer others, write you notes years later.
When Call is dim, you're not sure what you're contributing. Maybe the work is impressive but you can't articulate who it serves.
Return
What You Can Be Paid For
When Return is bright, the work pays. Not necessarily a fortune - but enough. Enough to keep doing it. Enough to build the life around it that you actually want.
When Return is dim, the work is unsustainable. You're undercharging or underpaid. You give away skills people would happily pay for. Or you're paid well for something you don't love.
Five Practices
Five weekly rituals — Observe, Feel, Cleanse, Align, Serve. A meditative arc cultivating each Chi, with Serve as integration.
Five Practices
Five weekly rituals — Observe, Feel, Cleanse, Align, Serve. A meditative arc cultivating each Chi, with Serve as integration.