Author Topic: Find Your Raison d'ętre -- Mine is Improving Financial Literacy globally  (Read 3622 times)

financiallypossible

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The Japanese have a word that means a reason for being. Or the reason you get up in the morning. That word is Ikigai. The French use the phrase raison d'ętre for precisely the same. I want you to seek your Ikigai. Check it out on google images -- powerful stuff. Found yours already? I'd love to hear about it :)

Most of my life, I operated primarily in the bottom and left portions of this venn diagram. As my financial freedom increased, I started to think more about other areas. By the time I hit FI, I had already become aware of the Ikigai concept and really started devoting more thought to my Ikigai. I got lost twice along the way -- once in my 20s and again in my 30s. I'd like to thank my wife for making me "wake up" through encouraging me to focus on personal growth (an area I neglected).

The last two weeks have been simply incredible. All the pieces started falling into place and I discovered my reason for being. I spoke with others about it, shared it on my Facebook page, contacted the Spurs organization about it, and published it to my blog. I realize it has a high probability of failure. But I have to try. And if it doesn't work, then I'll try something other idea entirely -- or some other approach to this one. Not trying would be certain to fail.

So that's my description of Ikigai in a nutshell and how it can make one feel -- and why I encourage you to seek it.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” —Mark Twain.


The Facebook message I shared:

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You are one of the <number> smart people I'm connected with on Facebook and you probably have an enhancement in mind for this idea.

The NBA has been running #LeanIn commercials since 2015 and I found them moving and effective.

Along similar lines, I envision the NBA running commercials where their highly influential athletes (Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Lebron James) talk about the importance of learning financial literacy for themselves and their family.

Then they go on to say that learning financial literacy is the cornerstone for building safe and strong families and households. The commercial closes with an NBA athlete providing information about a website that functions as a directory for grass-root non-profit and for-profit organizations that are committed to providing adults a financial literacy education.

After viewing the commercial, anyone could go onto the directory, enter their zip code, and find the few nearest locations to receive an opportunity to have a financial literacy education that they likely did not receive in the American school system.

This outreach could be expanded to cover other areas where there are influential celebrities who may be willing to speak out -- music, movie & television stars, NFL, MLB, etc. I have no idea what those outreach programs might look like yet.

So there's the idea in its essence -- a simple game of throw and catch. It's already been enhanced and refined as I have spoken with others, but now I want to leverage the collective power of <number> smart people and your networks as well (please speak openly if you feel the same way about my mission as I do).

How can it be made even better? What are the gaps (how can even more people be reached)? How can it be made more effective? How can we make it happen as quickly as possible? Who has connections with any players or personnel within the NBA? Who has more knowledge (or connections) about other entertainment industries?

I do not care about taking the credit for this idea or finding any way to profit from it. I just want it to happen as quickly and effectively as possible. I feel abundance not only w/ regard to time and money, but also with ideas.


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Please share anything you'd like regarding your journey in finding your Ikigai. Or if you can enhance this idea, then please do.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2017, 06:22:20 AM by financiallypossible »

Bicycle_B

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Financiallypossible, congrats on moving forward, and good luck.  I'm an NBA fan too.

Did you post a Venn diagram?  Using Chrome browser, I don't see it.

financiallypossible

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Financiallypossible, congrats on moving forward, and good luck.  I'm an NBA fan too.

Did you post a Venn diagram?  Using Chrome browser, I don't see it.

Let's see if posting an attachment works. I guess it'll be more powerful having it here than requiring lookup on google images.

I modify the right hand circle to be "What YOU feel the world needs". We're each going to have our own opinions on this.
I modify the bottom circle to be "What you can be paid for WELL". It's insufficient simply to be paid.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 05:42:59 AM by financiallypossible »

sea

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I've been thinking about this lately not in the exact terms of ikigai per se although that will be interesting to contemplate.  I have my paid profession which is going well and a volunteer passion project. I have been struggling to find meaning and purpose in my paid work lately beyond getting me to FI and building technical skills.  FI is a little less than 10 years off by current projections and so that's a relatively long stretch of time.  I told myself I would reevaluate once I had been in my current role for 5 years which is a little more than a year off, but I still think about it sometimes.  I have the "comfortable but feeling of emptiness" in my paid work and "delight and fullness, but no wealth" in my passion project and want to work toward merging the two.  Thanks for sharing, this is helpful.

financiallypossible

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I've been thinking about this lately not in the exact terms of ikigai per se although that will be interesting to contemplate.  I have my paid profession which is going well and a volunteer passion project. I have been struggling to find meaning and purpose in my paid work lately beyond getting me to FI and building technical skills.  FI is a little less than 10 years off by current projections and so that's a relatively long stretch of time.  I told myself I would reevaluate once I had been in my current role for 5 years which is a little more than a year off, but I still think about it sometimes.  I have the "comfortable but feeling of emptiness" in my paid work and "delight and fullness, but no wealth" in my passion project and want to work toward merging the two.  Thanks for sharing, this is helpful.

Excellent to hear about your experience sea! I'm happy I got you thinking about a merger of those two. This may take a while to find, but the process gets sped up once you're aware of what you're looking for. It's great that you're already hitting multiple intersections of 3 out of 4 as those are still better feelings than just 2 out of 4.

I tested the display the image on my phone and it doesn't want to display there. It displays just fine in Firefox on a computer. Probably a mobile limitation. FYI for those not able to see the Venn diagram.

Bicycle_B

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I can see the diagram now.  Very interesting indeed.

stoaX

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So is it safe to say that if one achieves solid financial independence, the "what you are paid for" circle can be removed?  Thanks for posting the interesting diagram.

financiallypossible

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So is it safe to say that if one achieves solid financial independence, the "what you are paid for" circle can be removed?  Thanks for posting the interesting diagram.

You're welcome.

I guess you really could go either way on that one. Being paid is one form of recognition, so it still may be of value to you in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Or it could serve as validation that others value what you do enough to give it the backing of money.

Being unchained is remarkably freeing and feels powerful. Definitely my opinion that the best thing money can buy is not worrying about money.

As MMM says, "Work is better when you don't need the money."

financiallypossible

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An update on my journey. It's only been 3 weeks since I originally posted, but I feel an ever increasing amount of joy with each passing day. The joy flows through my body and sparks inspiration and even more radical positivity (I've always been optimistic and positive). I wish I had better words to describe what I'm feeling and experiencing, but this is all so new to me.

I truly want each and every person to find their Ikigai / Raison d'etre (as the French call it). I want you to achieve FI so that you can stay seated solely on  the top layers of Maslow's pyramid of needs and can devote yourself to your Ikigai / Raison d'etre.

zephyr911

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Sustainable energy, I don't even have to think about it.
For me, FIRE has always been more about doing that than escaping my workplace per se.
Following.

financiallypossible

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Sustainable energy, I don't even have to think about it.
For me, FIRE has always been more about doing that than escaping my workplace per se.
Following.

Excellent! I have met many others that feel the same kind of burning passion around sustainable energy. What are your views on the various cleaner sources?

What does 'Following' mean?

Your handle of zephyr911 reminds me of Zephram Cochrane.

markbike528CBX

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Along with zephyr911, posting to follow.    This is something I need to work on.
My focus up to this point is not to be chained to someone else's schedule.   Once I have that, then I'll need to up my game to get satisfaction.    Other than the whipsawing schedule ( I was once asked, "Do you have your passport on you?"), my job is pretty cool and a big part of my self-image/self-worth.   It would be great to do, minus the 7:00-3:30 or 4:00 or 5:00 bit.

zephyr911

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Sustainable energy, I don't even have to think about it.
For me, FIRE has always been more about doing that than escaping my workplace per se.
Following.

Excellent! I have met many others that feel the same kind of burning passion around sustainable energy. What are your views on the various cleaner sources?
Well, for starters, the most economical energy investment is still in efficiency upgrades. From the standpoint of a utility (or of any energy producer), demand reduction can be modeled as a source that automatically synchronizes to demand... which is the best kind of source, in addition to being cheaper than new production capacity (all types). It's worth noting that electric vehicles represent a major reduction in overall energy demand, as well as lifetime cost of ownership (facts that get lost in the noise of emissions arguments and purchase prices, respectively), so I do spend some time advocating that as part of the big picture. Other than that, the highest-ROI items are much more mundane and have all been mentioned in MMM articles... efficient lights, insulation, air sealing, HVAC etc. My startup is heavily focused on retrofitting rentals to be as efficient as possible, via the above.
As far as production, I'm a big "all of the above" guy, including FFs to the extent they're needed as bridge fuels (though that's often wildly overstated../$.02).
I strongly support solar and wind, have invested heavily in both, and my local power mix is heavy in nuke and hydro, which I also think are great for what they are, though both have major barriers to expansion and are generally best left at their current deployment levels. Existing hydro in particular has great synergies with wind power... collocate new wind farm, use existing transmission lines (reducing cost of new wind) and use the dispatchable hydro whenever the wind doesn't blow. No batteries needed, and extremely high renewable penetration is possible.
My company also owns some shares in a company that makes compressed pellets from wood waste... if you heard about the UK recently having its first day in over a century with no coal burned for power, that was one of the gap-fillers that made it possible. Not the best source, but an interesting and profitable transitional fuel with less overall pollution and, aside from manufacturing and shipping, a closed carbon cycle.
I'm also looking at investing in storage technology and/or lithium production, but it's still too speculative at this time for me to commit.
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What does 'Following' mean?
Following this thread, since I'm curious what others think about the concept.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!