Ikigai: the four-circle overlap

Ikigai is a Japanese concept often translated as 'a reason for getting up in the morning'. The version used in career and business planning draws four circles: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

Each overlap means something. Love + skill without payment is a hobby. Skill + payment without love is a job that empties you. Love + need without skill is a wish. Only where all four meet do you get work that is sustainable, fundable and worth doing.

The framework is not magic. Its value is forcing four honest answers in one place. Most people have only ever thought about one or two of the circles, usually 'love' and maybe 'paid for'. The other two are where business ideas actually live.