Reflecting as: — ✎
I · Chapter 2

Livelihood

Ikigai 生き甲斐

How You Make a Living That Matters

12 statements · 4 archetypes · Interactive

“That land is my Ikigai. Not what I'm being paid for today. What I'm being pulled towards.”

Andre Jankowitz — Author, True Purpose

Where do you stand?

Rate each from 1 to 3. (1 = not really, 2 = sometimes, 3 = yes)

Heart
What You Love
I love what I spend my days doing.
The doing of my work energises me, not depletes me.
I would still do this work even if no one paid me - at least some part of it.
Heart: 0 / 9
Mastery
What You're Good At
I'm genuinely good at what I do.
Other people recognise my skill - they ask me for what I uniquely offer.
I keep getting better, not just maintaining what I had.
Mastery: 0 / 9
Call
What the World Needs
The work I do meets a real need that exists in the world.
People genuinely benefit from what I create - not just me.
Without my work, something specific would be missing.
Call: 0 / 9
Return
What You Can Be Paid For
My work sustains me financially.
I'm paid fairly for what I do.
I can build the life I want from this income.
Return: 0 / 9
Incarnate Chi
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.

The Four Circles

Each circle represents one dimension of your working life. When all four are bright, work becomes livelihood — not just a job, but a living that matters.

Heart

What You Love

When bright:

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 dim:

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 bright:

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 dim:

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 bright:

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 dim:

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 bright:

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 dim:

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.

Incarnate Chi

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.

When bright

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.

When dim

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.

Five Practices

OBSERVE
The 2am Question
Cultivates: Higher Chi
Once this week, sit with one of the four diagnostic questions you scored low on. Don't try to fix it. Just sit with it - 10 minutes, pen in hand, no phone in the room. Write the question at the top of the page. Then write whatever comes.
FEEL
Body Before Screen
Cultivates: Incarnate Chi
Before you touch a screen tomorrow morning, give your body 10 minutes. Not a workout. Just 10 minutes of moving and breathing - whatever your body asks for. The work that comes after a morning of Incarnate Chi is different work.
CLEANSE
One Thing You Stop Doing
Cultivates: Gaia Chi
Find one thing in your working life that you've been carrying and don't need to. A meeting that produces nothing. A client who drains more than they give back. Stop doing it this week.
ALIGN
The Letter to Yourself
Cultivates: Divine Chi
Write a one-page letter to yourself, dated one year from today. Describe the working life you'd be living if all four circles were bright. Be specific. Don't write a fantasy - write a possible truth.
SERVE
One Small Offering
Cultivates: All four Chis
Find one person this week who would benefit from what you do well, and offer it. Not for money. Not for reciprocation. Just because. When all four Chis flow outward through one small act, you taste what True North feels like.
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