Defining my reason for being with Ikigai.
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My whole life I've never been a fan of titles or labels. I've actually done great harm to a traditional career path by avoiding them. I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe it's my millennial entitlement or way of thinking. As early as I can recall, I've just never associated who I am with what I'm currently capable of.
The first time I played with an FTP server and HTML was by fate when I was 11. In 2002, I wasn’t trying to become a web developer I was just curious, challenged, and interested.
Similarly, I began creating with photoshop, dreamweaver and image ready, because it was what I enjoyed, I wasn't setting myself up to become an artist and graphic designer. I simply loved learning to progress my knowledge and get to some imaginary moon-shot solution that I was aiming towards.
Fast forward 16 years later and the industry has changed drastically - and hardly at all.
I think about how many amazing projects I would have done if I stuck to one trade and continued to become an expert "web designer" - would I jump to interaction design, or already be obsolete by the time UX design came around? I care about the user more than myself and I love learning how to improve their experience. I can use all their tools and am familiar with many of their processes - I don’t refer to myself as UX designer. I focus for hours each day on strategies to increase conversions, goals, and product sales - yet I wouldn't call myself a conversion optimist. I can build every piece to your brand, execute every blocker in your business development, or design you an absolutely stellar PowerPoint, but please don’t refer to me as a graphic designer. I feel that’s belittling both my degree in marketing and academically trained graphic peers at the same time. All of these titles and jobs are important but they have, and will always have, bugged me.
I had defended for so long, what I am not - I never solidified what I define myself as.
I simply didn't know my Ikigai.
Ikigai (生き甲斐,) is a Japanese term for "a reason for being." The word 'Ikigai' refers to the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile.
In a world that considers labels so drastically, I actively lost out many times by denying a title or two most define as my expected career path. Truth be told, there is no Job title that could ever exist that would define my reason for being while also encompassing my value for growth.
So, I began pondering the self as we all have;
Who am I? What exactly is my reason for being? What do I desire? What do I know?Those were all simple to me. I think about them often if we are being honest.
Who I am is a string of thoughts, feelings and ideas that began manifesting on July 17th, 1991.
What I desire most of all in this life: to make a substantial positive impact in the world with the time I am given.
What I know; I'm positive that there's a l lot more I don't know than I will ever know.
