I remember and will remember all my life a personal development exercise that I set out to do years ago, in which they asked: what do you know how to do?
And from my heart I am ashamed to tell you what I answered, they are very intimate and private things that are difficult to explain, but I think that the examples of people's stories can help other people, and that is how I prepare to write each article that I do, with the intention of helping, or being able to inspire, even if it's just one person. I answered: "play basketball"; he knew the rules of basketball, he had learned to defend, to bounce the ball well, to shoot a basket, etc. I felt like I knew what I was doing in basketball. But as much as I tried to find another answer, I couldn't find it. I remembered that my family said that I was good at painting, but I wasn't very convinced either. That day I felt pain and sadness, because I was not able to answer anything else. I had studied an Engineering career but I did not know how to identify if I had learned something or what I had learned in the degree, not even in my job.
I like and I liked to watch TED Talk talks, surely you know them, these talks are based on storytelling in many cases of people's life experience. I felt great admiration for these people who had managed to extract useful information from their life experience. And I was wondering... If you had to do a TED Talk, what would you say? And nothing came to me, nothing. What a feeling of emptiness I felt.
Thus, among other circumstances of my life, is how I realized that I had been on autopilot all these years, without stopping to think who was I, what was I good at doing, what was my value proposition to society or the world. And I started to work on my self-awareness.
In this way the book of the "Ikigai, the secrets of Japan for a long and happy life" by Héctor García and Frances Miralles. I loved this concept, I loved knowing that each one of us has a “reason to be”, I translate it into a value proposition for society or the world.
I felt that I had to try to find it, I was not going to become obsessed, I knew that only the process of looking for it could enrich me as a person. So I got ready for it. Doing it is not an easy process and requires a lot of patience and exploration time, but you know what? With this process I felt alive, I felt that I was listening to myself for the first time, I felt that I was loving myself doing what I was doing. I didn't think about the result, because I wasn't sure if I would be able to find my ikigai either, I enjoyed the process. And yes, I found my ikigai, but if you are willing to try it, please, enjoy the process of self-knowledge, of self-discovery, with that you will feel that you are loving yourself and it will help you mark a before and after, without a doubt to improve your satisfaction and motivation in life.
How was the process of finding my ikigai?
I have been asked by several people to describe how I went through this process in case it helps. So with shame but illusion of being able to inspire or help other people, I describe my process of realizing the dynamics of ikigai.
The ikiagi is the intersection of four circles or mandalas: (i) The mandala of what you like to do, what you love. What you are passionate about, what makes you be in flow state, spending time and feeling comfortable. (ii) The mandala of what you are good at, your talents. (iii) The mandala of what the world needs and (iv) the mandala of reward.
Mandala of what you love (your hobbies)
So I decided to start with the mandala of what I like to do (i), and this is what I wrote:
- I like painting
- I like to dance
- I like to write
- I like reading
- I like to travel
- I like to clean
- I like to do crafts
- I like to find solutions to challenges
- I like to think big
- I like to question the status quo
- I like to inspire my children, and people in general, to be the best of themselves.
I was writing this list just as I was feeling it, without thinking about the meaning of what I was writing. It may happen that you find it difficult to identify what you like to do, if so, think about what makes you feel good when you do it, whatever it is, write what comes to mind. You can also think about what you liked to do when you were a child. For example, I loved to play at being a teacher, I loved to paint and I was proud of myself being brave.
Mandala of what you are good at (your talents)
I then proceeded with the mandala of what you are good at (ii). Here I felt as much shame for having to think about what I was good at, as ignorance, for not being able to identify what I was good at. I hope I am wrong when I think that many people can find themselves in this circumstance. The educational model to date, instead of making us feel like unique beings, each one with their talents, has led us to compare ourselves with each other, all measured by the grade we get in the different subjects at school.
In my particular case, I had even taken several skills tests in work environments, tests that I loved to analyze, but when I had to write what I was good at doing the ikigai mandala, it was not enough.
This led me to create the KitCo Talent Dynamics. A test that allowed me to connect with my interior reflecting with a complete perspective of both the right hemisphere (intuition and emotion) and the left hemisphere (logic and reason). A test that allowed me to reflect with information, not only on my own self-evaluation, but also on the evaluation of how different people from my different environments, family, friends, work perceive my talents.
This test allowed me to discover my talents, those that, visualizing myself developing, I feel satisfaction: communicator, inspiring, creative, enterprising, artistic and I like to learn.
So she can finally write what she was good at:
- Communicating.
- Inspiring people to bring out the best in themselves.
- Developing ideas to make things better.
- Carrying out initiatives that involve a certain degree of risk for leaving the comfort zone.
- Designing both by making drawings, graphic or audiovisual material, such as jewelry, etc.
- Learning continuously, both with everything that happens to me in my life, and proactively, acquiring new knowledge, what I call the life long learning.
Mandala of what the world needs (your values) and the SDGs, the sustainable development goals.
I had always felt that the world needed to evolve education in order to create a better world, although I would never have imagined that I could do something about it. When I was about to write this mandala I felt my heart beating strongly. Uff I was excited about the possibility of starting a new reality in my life, I didn't know how, but at least I was writing it to reflect on it, it was already a big step.
I considered that it was necessary to analyze with which of the sustainable development goals, established by the UN as global needs, I felt identified.
Specifically, there are 17 sustainable development goals approved by the UN: 1. Eradication of poverty, 2. Fight against hunger, 3. Good health, 4. Quality education, 5. Gender equality, 6. Drinking water and sanitation , 7. Renewable energy, 8. Decent employment and economic growth, 9. Innovation and infrastructure, 10. Reduction of inequality, 11. Sustainable cities and communities, 12. Responsible consumption, 13. Fight against climate change, 14. Flora and faunato aquatic, 15. Terrestrial flora and fauna, 16. Peace and justice, 17. Alliances for the achievement of objectives.
In my case, the objectives clearly made my heart vibrate more strongly: 4. Quality education and 16. Peace and justice.
Likewise, I considered that it was necessary to relate my values to the needs of the world with which I had just identified. Values are our guide, what leads us to make decisions consistent with ourselves. After carrying out the dynamics of values, I became aware that The values that, keeping in mind in my life, made me feel consistent with myself were: confidence, optimism, wisdom, self-esteem, empathy, generosity and freedom.
Relating my values to the sustainable development goals (what the world needs) I came up with this story: I trust that a better world is possible (value: confidence), I always say that you have to believe it to create it (value: optimism), I know that I can contribute my grain of sand (value: self-esteem) fighting for a change in the educational model (SDG 4. Quality education) and although I feel happiness, I want to help people find happiness within themselves (value: empathy) because only then will a world of peace be possible (SDG, 16. Peace and justice) . So I will do my best (value: generosity) to get it, because I am free to do it (value: freedom) and it is what I really want.
When you look inside yourself and are able to analyze what need in the world you feel identified with, you begin to find a new meaning in your life, a meaning full of hope and motivation.
Mandala (iv) for what you can be paid or rewarded (market demand)
Normally the concept of ikigai considers this mandala for what they can pay you. I wanted to open it up to what they can reward you for. It does not always have to be an economic reward, there may be other types of rewards that are the engine of our actions to carry out our ikigai.
In my case, not knowing at the time what to write in what they could pay me for, I wrote my rewards:
- Help people believe in themselves and find their value proposition.
- Help parents to more effectively accompany their children in adolescence.
- Transmit messages to society, messages that reach and inspire.
- Help manage emotions to improve people's mental health and interpersonal relationships.
I needed to understand this point better, but I decided to continue with the relationship between the different mandalas to see what came together in them.
Relating mandala (i) what you love (your hobbies) with mandala (ii) what you are good at (your talents).
The confluence between what you love and what you are good at are your passions.
To identify our passions we must pay attention to the state of Flow, that moment in which time passes and you feel that you are doing something that you like and you are good at.
I feel a state of Flow doing the things I like to do that I have indicated in the first mandala.
Now it's time to relate what makes you feel in a state of Flow, it may be everything you love or like to do, as is my case, with the talents.
In my case, this relationship occurs as follows: writing has to do with my talent as a communicator; doing crafts, painting and designing has to do with my creative and artistic talents; traveling and reading have to do with my talent I like to learn; cleaning has to do with artistic talent; Finding solutions to challenges, developing strategies, thinking big and questioning the status quo, has to do with my creative and entrepreneurial talents; and wanting to inspire my children to be the best of themselves, as well as the people around me, has to do with my inspiring talent.
Relating mandala (ii) what you are good at (your talents) with mandala (iv) what you can be paid or rewarded for (market demand).
The confluence between what you are good at (your talents) and what you can be paid or rewarded for (market demand) would be your profession.
At this point it is ideal to know the profession you like in which you can develop your talents. So I analyzed what professions I would develop my talents in, and thus created the “discover your profession” dynamic with KitCo. From the result of the analysis of professions vs. talents, these possibilities arose: teacher, educator, entrepreneur, mediator, coach, psychologist, journalist, writer, marketing or sales specialist, publicist, creative director or art director, etc.
Relating the mandala (i) what you love (your hobbies) with the mandala (iii) what the world needs (your values and SDGs).
The confluence between what you love (your hobbies) and what the world needs (your values) would be your mission.
It is the place where, connecting what you like to do with what the world needs, you feel deeply useful.
I like to question the status quo and think big, which leads me to believe that a better education in the world is possible; I like to read and travel, which leads me to learn in order to add value; I like to find solutions to challenges and develop strategies, which leads me to plan how I can do to add value; I like to inspire my children, which connects me with the children of the world and with the hope of a better education for them, to build a better world; I like to paint, do crafts and design, which leads me to be able to create and generate content to add value in the educational field, etc.
Relating mandala (iii) what the world needs (your values and SDGs) with mandala (iv) what they can reward you for (market demand).
The confluence between what the world needs with what can be rewarded to you would be your vocation.
In my case, relating what I can be rewarded for with what the world needs, I can identify that my vocation is education.
Building my ikgai, the relationship between all the mandalas, my value proposition, my purpose in life.
Finally, analyzing and connecting all this information, my ikigai emerged, my purpose, my value proposition:
“Continuous learning of the being in terms of personal growth and emotional intelligence, and taking my learning to actions that can inspire other people to discover themselves and make decisions that improve the satisfaction of their lives by finding happiness within.”
Once I discovered my ikigai, I started planning a plan of action. Being my dream to be able to dedicate myself to it and, therefore, necessarily earn money to be able to live. The action plan contemplates combining other activities to generate income while I grow and develop this ikigai more intensely and deeply. From the first moment I began to develop my ikigai, I understood the great meaning of my life, in addition to caring for and accompanying my children, of course. From the first moment I began to develop my ikigai, my heart began to vibrate and I began to feel that I was truly adding value to society for a better world.
This process is not easy, but the reward is feeling alive and coherent. With this process I began to identify what I was good at at work, what I was good at in my life in general, and with that I identified what I knew how to do, what I had learned to do. And now I was much more prepared to answer the question, what do you know how to do? Now I got answers like: I know how to communicate assertively, I know how to detect people's needs, I know how to find resources to find solutions to problems, I know how to think big to improve situations, I know how to write and design the aesthetics of documents so that messages reach people, etc.
Likewise, becoming aware of my values allowed me to identify in which places or with which jobs I felt good or with which other jobs I did not feel consistent, in order to take action.
And this Self-awareness and personal development work led me to find my value proposition to society and the world. A value proposition that led me to what I called "reinvent myself" although in reality, as Steve Jobs says, simply I have connected the dots of my life.
I studied Chemical Engineering, my first job was as an Engineer in a Spanish engineering company listed on the stock market. During the first years there I learned to work as a team, to look for resources to find solutions to the needs of the clients, to optimize these resources to make the projects profitable, etc. Later, in this same company, as head of renewable energy promotions, I learned to analyze investments and market products and services, etc. Later, as a commercial director in a multinational company in the world of energy, I learned to value energy efficiency services in the market; and as director of the partner channel in a multinational in the industrial sector, I learned to cooperate and make alliances of growth strategies.
A whole learning trajectory that thanks to a process of self-knowledge, I have been able to value and connect the dots of my life. That is why my purpose is to contribute as much as I can so that each person can find, if they want, their value proposition to society or the world, as unique beings that we all are.
