Ikigai isn't even complete

You perhaps once stumbled upon this Venn diagram portraying Ikigai: "reason for being", "purpose of life", "reason to live", or whatchamacallit raison d'être. The word is represented by the character (生) which means disciple, livelihood, potential, unripe, or things along this line.


Image result for ikigai

The "purpose" is divided into four dimensions: whether one is adept at it, whether one is paid to do the task, whether the thing is something others actually need (hence beneficial), and whether one is enjoying it. But somehow, the depiction of this "purpose" using this Venn diagram kinda incomplete albeit you can still dwelve deep into it, make an essay out of it, and give TED-style talks on it. Still, technically the diagram with four circles here only features fourteen sections (including negative value for all factors), while permutations of four factors yield sixteen different values in total. So where are the remaining two?




This oval-ey diagram is definitely better. But two sections are left unexplained: "good job" (what you love and earns money, but you aren't necessarily good at it nor others need you to do it) and "contribution" (what you are good at for precisely what others need, but you kinda loathe it and doesn't get paid). The first definitely sounds wasted and the later sounds like one is being "used".

So what may these two be in real life?
  • prostitution is a good job: screw, hump, get paid; you don't need to be a proper porn star and definitely doing solicit sexual act isn't socially desirable conduct. If you are getting good at it, it is now either your passion or profession (or both, which is your now self-imposed ikigai). If somehow society accepts it, it is now your ikigai imposed by others, unfortunately, by being a prostitute.
  • being altruistic as a matter of contribution: do good samaritan out of good will, you are quite adept at it, then you are getting tired, experiencing burnout, later running out of resources (time, energy, money, etc) to do so. Your way out being this miserable is either to start to love it for good or get some money out of it (which makes you an entrepreneur at this stage)
  • entrepreneur: you aren't necessarily good at it but people needs you, you don't necessarily love it but somehow you get paid to continue doing it. So how you manage to do it? Let others with proper passion on it to do so and use others' resource to do your case, you connects will and energy, resource and passion, talent and demand.

So what's the take on this, or at least, my take on this?
Your raison d'être doesn't have to be wholesome and "complete" with love, money, talent, and acceptance of others at once. You can always define it yourself, being content with the moment, but always open up your mind for changes you are working on for the better or changes simply imposed by constraints, as things are often not quite right.

Kudos to guys at dreamstime/Toronto Star Graphic, Mark Winn, Dan Buettner, David McCandles for the wonderful graphs.