Find your purpose in life in 2 hours
Having a purpose in life is one of the most fundamental human needs. However, for most people, finding their purpose in life is not obvious. Modern life has a way of distracting people from their true goals and many people find it hard to define their purpose in life. Especially at younger ages, people are searching for meaning in life, but this has been found to be unrelated to actually finding meaning. In a writing exercise developed by Michaéla Schippers you can find your ikigai, or purpose in life, now.
For further information and detailed instructions, see Michaéla Schippers’ website devoted to finding your purpose in life: ikigaitv.nl (English) or ikigaitv.nl (Dutch).
Michaela’s scientific paper “Life Crafting as a Way to Find Purpose and Meaning in Life” was published in Frontiers in Psychology, 13 December 2019.
References to “life crafting” in popular media
Psychology Today
Tamara Goldsby Ph.D. in Psychology Today refers to Life Crafting as a Way to Find Purpose and Meaning in Life.
Tips to Break Out of the Mold
Tamara Goldsby writes that we often cling to the familiar because it’s safe and easy. “Change can be incredibly scary. Our world can be rocked by making major life changes. Sometimes, though, that’s just what our soul needs to become our true self.”
Optimaal Talent
Management and Leadership website Optimaal Talent offers “a key” in lifecrafting based on Schipper’s research.
How to answer the question: Is this all there is?
Optimaal Talent: “Those who strongly experience their Ikigai score higher on zest for life and experience greater purpose in life. This has a range of effects on your net lifespan and your quality of life. Examples are a better night’s sleep, less stress and depressions, fewer strokes, heart attacks and a lower risk of dementia, disability and premature death.”
For Dutch readers: see the Optimaal Talent’s site for their article based on (although not endorsed by) Schipper’s life crafting method: Is dit het nou?.
Michaéla Schippers’ Inaugural Address: Refection on life goals optimizes human performance and happiness (2017)
In her inaugural address, Michaela discusses the role of self-regulatory behaviors that people can employ in order to live a full-filling life. These behaviors include reflection and personal goal setting, in order to formulate a direction or purpose in life (Ikigai). In the inaugural address, an evidence-based goal-setting intervention is discussed. This relatively brief intervention has shown to have lasting results: not only does it increase well-being of students, the intervention also boosted academic performance of students by over 20%. Moreover, the intervention significantly decreased the gender and ethnic minority performance gap. The goal setting is shown in a broader perspective with examples in education, business and operations management. The perspective presented in this address emphasizes taking control of one’s life in order to optimize performance and happiness.
TedX, 3 February 2020
Michaela Schippers talks about the importance of goal-setting and the impact this can have on your life, and offers an innovative approach for effective goal-setting.
