The thinking behind the hack.

In my early 20s, my mum got me a book entitled How to Find the Work You Love by Laurence G. Boldt. The premise was that everyone — with all our unique sets of talents and abilities — is designed to shine and flourish at the particular kind of work that we are best suited for. People are uniquely built and born for a specific purpose.

Ever since I came across that concept, it had been my dream: to find the work I love. I wrote it down on a piece of paper stuck to an old book — Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki — that my dream was to wake up every day excited to do my work. And not to have to set an alarm, because I wasn't a morning person, and it was a daily struggle to force myself to wake up, prepare and get ready to go to the office to serve the usual 8 to 5.

I didn't ask to never have to work again. Just to have the privilege of having the work I was excited to do.

Years later, I reencountered the concept in the form of Ikigai. In Japanese, it translates to “a reason for being.” Ikigai was my holy grail.

It described four aspects of work:

• Joy. Doing something you love and enjoy. This brings excitement, passion and energy.
• Excellence. Using and applying your unique strengths and talents. This brings confidence and validation.
• Meaning. Filling a need in the world and being of service to others. This brings fulfillment and meaning.
• Financial peace of mind. Getting paid for the work you do. This brings financial security.

That sweet intersection of all four aspects of work — that is where Ikigai lies.

I began in earnest pursuit of my Ikigai.

Some lucky folks might know their calling early, but for most of us, we start in a profession. Something the world needs and is willing to pay for. Eventually, if you apply yourself, you could become very good at it — highly competent. So easily, you get to cover three of the four aspects of Ikigai.

Now, can you make yourself love the work? Maybe. Maybe not.

Or sometimes we start doing something we love, and that passion drives us to become very good at it. But is there a need for it in the world? Maybe not yet. Can you create a need? And are people willing to pay for it?

The Maslow years

For those who are starting out — young married couples, fresh graduates — you begin with few resources and few needs. You take your first job, maybe choosing the one that gave the biggest pay. Most of us begin working in order to get paid. Maybe you move companies a few times. Maybe you start a business.

And yet, many of us also get to the end of our lives working still, only to get paid. I repeat, for emphasis: working for the sole purpose of getting paid. Some in their senior years, having reached the age of mandatory retirement, might still want to work because they still need a salary — but find no prospects, and find they are no longer competitive in the job market. If you only worked for money, then you will find yourself doing just that for the rest of your life.

So where's the love?

But then, what of my Ikigai? As the Black Eyed Peas song goes, where's the love?

Am I doomed to spend the rest of my life not being able to do work that brings me joy, fulfillment and excitement — work that fills me up and lights me up?

Of course not. You could move towards it. If only you knew what it was, right?

Well, let me propose this.

Instead of chasing the elusive Ikigai

Of the four aspects — doing what you love; doing what you're good at; doing something the world needs; doing something you could get paid for — if you are gainfully employed or operating a thriving business, you already have something that serves two, three and four.

So only one is missing. And it's the sweet sauce for anything: love.

Instead of asking what could be your Ikigai, I propose that you ask what it is that you love. If all your needs will be met, how would you be spending your lifetime?

Is that not the most important question to ask about your work?

So ponder this. Know thyself. And to thine own self be true. Defining the dream is the first step.

Let's call that your big dream. Think about that first, because trying to find your Ikigai can put too much pressure on you. Just relax into it. Turning Ikigai into an idol could lead to discontent and disturb your peace. Detachment is key.

So maybe the big dream and your work are separate. For now. The thing you love and the livelihood that pays your bills are not one and the same — yet. That's as good a place to start as any. You've already defined your goal and your love, and while you can't devote all your time and effort to it yet because you still have to do the work that pays, at least you could get started.

But what if I tell you that you could hack this, so that you get to do the work you love and have that dream, without having to work for money anymore?

Enter financial freedom. This is the foundation of The Ikigai Hack.

And what we learned from experience is that the moment you begin working with joy, excellence and purpose — becoming very good at the thing you love that also serves the world — then the money follows. And Ikigai is realized.

Most commonly, people work for money. To make a living. To get paid. So people define work as the means to earn money.

But is that really all there is to work?

Let's ask the Oxford dictionary. Work is defined as “an activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.”

Based on that definition, work is putting in effort for a certain intention. Two things to note: it involves effort, and it is done with an intention to achieve something.

It never mentioned money. But most people define work in a narrower sense — something you do for money. It could be so much more than that. The purpose or result is not exclusively money.

Stay-at-home moms or dads and homemakers are a prime example. Caring for children and raising them is a full-time job. Would you say that these people do not work? They don't get paid a salary for all they do. But work they do — and they do it both out of love and to fulfill a purpose as parents.

Work can be so much more than just a paycheck. By broadening our definition of work, we give ourselves a better chance of a more fulfilling life — and a richer one in more ways than one.

When our concept of work is simply a money generator, we severely limit the value it can create in our life. People looking to start a business usually do so to earn money. That's valid and understandable. But having this singular criterion for choosing the business you will get into might be doing yourself a disservice.

In every field of business, profession or endeavor, there are winners and losers. There are extremely successful people and people who are merely getting by, if at all. Which goes to show that it is not the field of endeavor itself that determines success, but the person who is in it.

How then should you decide on a business to enter, to ensure the best chances of winning? Look back to Ikigai.

• Fulfill a need. It should be something the world needs. If it doesn't exist yet, create the need. Without a need, how can you expect people to be willing to pay for it?
• Leverage what you're already good at — and keep getting better at it.
• Do something you will enjoy or truly love. It is still the secret sauce. Because then, no matter how hard it gets, you will persist until success arrives.

Without love, it will be very easy to simply give up when faced with difficulties. And love can be felt. It's transmitted in the way you deliver your services, craft your products and take care of your business. That intangible thing cannot be measured — but it makes the difference between winning and losing.

The showroom standard

Leasing properties is nothing new or special. Many Filipinos have bought condo units with the intention of leasing them for passive income. We are no different. But why are some people able to lease their units and some are not, when most condos are quite the same specifications-wise?

Because some people go the extra mile. We love leasing. So when we get ready to lease one of our units out, we labor in getting it ready: personally shining the bathroom chrome, shampooing the carpets, landscaping the balcony, cleaning every nook and cranny. When our engineering staff came up to install the water heater, he told us it looked like a showroom. Mission accomplished.

Then we take meticulous photos, making sure nothing is out of place. It boggles our minds when we see photos of properties for sale or lease where no effort was even made to clean the rooms, make the beds, remove clutter and unsightly things. It makes you wonder: do they really want to sell, or what?

And when we entertain clients, we put up a show. All air-conditioners running an hour before the appointment so the temperature is nice and cold. A Young Living diffuser on with a nice-smelling oil that evokes a happy feeling. Jazz music in the background to give an affluent feeling. A screensaver on the TV of an elegant place to add to the premium vibe. Lavender hand soap in the bathroom, a fully stocked bar, mood lighting.

We lease out our unit in a week's time, while other properties sit there for years needing TLC. Why do we do it? Because we love what we do. We love making a nice space. We love real estate. We love being able to lease out our properties because it gives us passive income for financial freedom. And that love translates.

So when deciding on a business to go into, check the Ikigai boxes. Is it something you love? Are you good at it? Does it fulfill a need? If your answer to the first three is a strong yes, then getting paid for it is nothing but an inevitable consequence.

We all usually start out our careers and first jobs to make money. Work is a means to get paid. And we get entrenched in work and look for work-life balance.

But maybe there's a better and deeper way to think of work.

Work and life are not separate things. Work is life. Life is work. And if that's the case, then work can be so much more than just a means for a paycheck.

Expanding your definition of work also expands the possibilities for it to fulfill its role in making a richer life for you in many respects. A source of joy. A means to express yourself and the unique abilities and talents that you naturally possess, or have developed with the unique experiences you have gathered along the way.

Work is your contribution to the world, serving the needs of others. Work is a source of meaning. And meaning is what makes life much more than just worth your while.

Work is God's will for us. It is love in action.

Want to make the world a better place? Live your Ikigai.

For parents, let me give you one more compelling reason for our case for Ikigai.

Why live your Ikigai? Because children learn by example. Not by words.

Gone are the days when parents expected children to follow the acceptable professions — the ones that in the past provided the greatest security, pay and respectability. Go to college and become an accountant, engineer, doctor, lawyer, and the parents will be satisfied, thinking their children will have the best chance at a good life.

Nowadays, the next generation of parents have a different set of standards for their children. They followed their parents' advice and did “the right thing.” But they find that fulfillment, joy and passion just might be more valuable than security, pay and respectability.

And so they expend their efforts to give their children all the resources to support their inclinations and talents. They send them to universities abroad. They allow them to take on more creative fields of study — culinary arts, game design, interior design, fashion. Courses that did not even exist only a generation ago.

Choosing an occupation for job security, pay and respectability is operating on old-fashioned values.

Job security might as well be an illusion. Is there such a thing in the workforce, given the emergence of AI and the way the global economy and business go nowadays? It's a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. With everything rapidly changing, security cannot be found in a job.

Ultimately, I believe most parents these days want their children to find happiness and fulfillment in the work that they choose to do.

But how can you preach what you do not practice?

As the old adage goes, “Actions speak louder than words.” How can you expect to convince your child to live their dream and follow their passions, when you have not followed yours? How credible a teacher will you be?

When they see you dreading Monday — going to the office tired, miserable, stressed by your boss and your company, getting only four hours of sleep every night, looking forward to each non-working holiday to travel and escape your life for the 15 allowed vacation days per year, and then going back to hang on by a thread until the next holiday comes along?

The biggest contribution you can make to your child's success is by becoming successful yourself. To your child's happiness, by becoming happy.

Why are the children of famous actors and athletes able to follow in their footsteps? Because their parents have shown them that it is possible. It is normal to live your dream — and therefore possible for them too. Believing in possibility is the single most powerful determinant of success. Without it, nothing can be achieved. With it, you are halfway there. Doubts may assail you on your way, but you shall persist, because you know it will come to be.

If you wish for your child to find and live their Ikigai, live yours. You owe it to them as much as you owe it to yourself.