Keep moving

I read Ikigai for the first time a few years ago. That time I had a read it because it had become an international best seller. It was a quoted everywhere when it came to management lessons or self improvement. I wanted to understand what this concept was and how I could implement it in my life. At that time I felt that it was not relevant and not implementable. Recently I read Ikigai once again and I saw it in a completely different light.

One of the lessons that I loved was to keep on moving. The chapter mentioned that 'Whatever you do, do not retire'. We should do what we love; what we are good at; what the world needs; and what can we get paid for. When all these aspects come together it makes Ikigai in practice.

It resonated deeply with me.

Approximately 6 months ago I began my journey as a freelancer. When I began, I wanted to get started with any way possible. I was not looking for a specific work or project. I want a comfortable doing any work or any project irrespective of whether it is aligning with my domain or qualification. I wanted to keep moving. I wanted to learn new skills. I was not nit picking. I was ready to use my skills in any way possible. As long as I would keep moving I was comfortable with getting the work done.

Now coming to what exactly I mean by saying that how I found Ikigai in this freelancing journey.

I did identify my interests. Apart from my skills I realised that I like teaching, training, analysing complicated reports, reading through multiple pages, proof reading, quality control, and content creation. These interest and skills aligned perfectly in the current world.

When I was looking for the projects I came across several projects pertinent to AI training. For AI training I was able to use my skills and the work that I had been doing was new, different, and something I enjoyed doing. I did not have the experience of working with the AI however I had the skills for AI training.

While applying for projects I also came to know that these are the skills that are required in today's world. The world where AI is required to do most of the tasks definitely needs some of the human skills. Humans are required to train and guide AI so that it could take learn from the humans and later it can work independently.

Lastly about the monetary benefit. The skills that I had were exactly what the world needed. These were the skills that I could get paid for. I took this opportunities and worked on small AI projects. At the end of completion of these projects I received the payout for my work which I found to be satisfactory.

In summary, ny interest and skills were used for the progress of the industry which yielled me benefits. In the end, this is how I found Ikigai in freelancing.

I hope you found this story interesting and inspiring. I would suggest you to find your Ikigai in your field of work or interest.