Passion is self-centered crap. Find your Ikigai (2018) | Hacker News Reader

Passion is self-centered crap. Find your Ikigai (2018)

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19 pointsseagertp20 comments

I kinda see the point of defining "passion" as "a self-centered crap".

We recently hired a guy that claims to be "passionate" about the tech we use. Indeed he is, but he shows basically zero interest in anything outside his "passion" and we're having a hard time getting him up to speed with regards to things that maybe he's not passionate about, that maybe are a bit boring, but that are still a very important part of the job.

I don't see this "passionate" guy going very far.

I started reading this thinking it was going to be a long form piece. What I thought was the intro was interesting enough to get me hooked and then it abruptly ended.

If anyone is wondering what Ikigai means without clicking, it's a Japanese concept that (apparently) can be interpreted to mean the intersection of what you're passionate about and what you're good at.

I guess it doesn't need anymore explanation than that.

I was also eager to hear out the author after that first paragraph, and was surprised to find there was no second...

I think it’s the video. I watched it, it had a nice message. Completely different then what parent comment is saying.

If you want a long form version of this exhortation, read “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”

That's literally missing half of ikigai. Ikigai is the intersection of four concepts:

1. What you LOVE

2. What you are GOOD AT

3. What the world NEEDS

4. What you can get PAID FOR

This is my favorite graphic to describe the various combinations: https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*qNNzYd3SE1Z09d_IaJOdGA.jpe...

That's my favorite graphic now, too!

That's a fantastic graphic. All the intersections are called out. [Perhaps we can give those last four just missing one ingredient names too.]

It's subtitled "A reason for being" with hit me with two-sided feelings of fulfillment and dystopia. The positives are readily apparent and the negative is where my mind goes to examine the flip-side. One problem in Japan seems to be that there's a sort of monoculture of success that is damning. Sort of like if everyone follows this exact formula in a the top select endeavours we could end up with everyone being fulfilled but dying off as a group. I guess this could get wrapped into (3) to prioritize what isn't being done/enough.

I have yet to find a Japanese source that talks about a Japanese concept called "Ikigai". Even the Japanese Wikipedia page refers to western sources. The Venn Diagram that is commonly associated with it originally had nothing to do with "Ikigai".

https://www.sloww.co/ikigai/

Let's not disregard that Japanese society is highly conformist and anti-individualist and that social isolation is very common, with birth rates among the very lowest in the world. If there really is a philosophy of "Ikigai" in Japan, it doesn't seem to be working.

On the flip side, here's my 1-2-3 recipe for your very own "Ikigai": Take any pseudo-profound concept, slap a "Made in East-Asia" label on it, then become a motivational speaker. Tell people what they want to hear, make them feel better, pat yourself on the back, and get paid.

>Take any pseudo-profound concept, slap a "Made in East-Asia" label on it, then become a motivational speaker.

Why not? It worked for "bushido."

So I know that everything sounds cooler in Japanese (which is why anime characters call out their ultimate attack names in English), but is there a reason we can't use the perfectly cromulent English word "vocation" with a bit of explanatory text differentiating it from "passion"?

Translation is inherently a leaky pursuit (and I'm no native Japanese speaker, so I can't unequivocally translate the word 'ikigai'), but I can say as a lover of language that the value of such a word to a foreigner is it's beautiful concision.

Because everyone has different emotions, preconceptions, etc. attached to the existing word. Introduce a new one, and you can define what it means without worrying about people misunderstanding you (unless they already know what Ikigai is, and I’d be willing to bet in that case that they’d disagree with the author’s over-simplification or mischaracterization of the word). There’s also an “exotic” attraction to concepts from other cultures.

The graphic linked by kybishop includes 'vocation' as well as the other intersections and descriptions of the four unnamed areas of overlap.

OK, so my initial response to the title was anger; the video which is the substance of this post, however, has a much less contentious message. Your "passion" is the intersection of what you love and are great at. The concept of "Ikigai" is that it is also important to consider what others need and are willing to pay for, a self-evident idea wrapped in provocativeness, condemning people for being concerned for their own wellbeing and fulfilment.

The final sentence of the article is somewhat nonsensical: "feelings are exactly the things that distract us from our wantings". "Wantings" are feelings!

"Passion" is what you love and you are good at.

Ikigai is also what others need and others are willing to pay for. Ikigai requires empathetic understanding of others.

"Empathetic understanding of others."

Empathetic understanding of others should make one hesitate to tell them that being primarily focused on doing what they're passionate about is "self-centred crap", rather than using a less needlessly excoriating phrase. It touched a nerve for me specifically because I feel I, like most people, have prioritised doing things that other people need and are willing to pay for, and then felt attacked for my wish to be doing something I actually enjoy and have an aptitude for.

Edited: to be more empathetic to others.

It sounds like your interpretation of this is very different from mine.

I read this as "When figuring out what to do with your life, don't _just_ consider what you love. You should also consider what you're good at, what is useful, and what others will pay/support you to do." instead of "Ignore yourself and just do what others want you to do."

This post is crap. Instead of posting in the article comments someone made a dedicated medium post that completely misses the point of the linked article. Following your passion is only half the way toward a meaningful life.

This feedback is terrific. Thank you for commenting.

I'm revising the article right now to incorporate more of the video.

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