Ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese concept loosely translated as a sense of purpose or reason for being, encompassing everyday sources of meaning — relationships, routines, small pleasures — as described by Japanese scholars such as Mieko Kamiya. The popular four-circle Venn diagram (what you love / are good at / can be paid for / what the world needs) is not Japanese in origin: it was created by blogger Marc Winn in 2014 by relabeling Andrés Zuzunaga's unrelated 2011 Spanish purpose diagram, and has no documented connection to Okinawa. The underlying construct of life purpose has been linked in observational studies (e.g., Sone et al. 2008, Ohsaki cohort) to lower cardiovascular mortality.