Ikigai is a Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being.” It exists at the intersection of passion, mission, profession, and vocation. It’s existed for centuries in Japanese culture and was popularized in the 1960s.
According to the speakers, more than 50% of physicians have experienced at least one sign of burnout. Dr. Patel noted that identifying one’s ikigai provides “a sense of direction and can be a proposed antidote to physician burnout.” The concept of ikigai in relation to hospitalists’ wellness was discussed in the January 2023 issue of The Hospitalist and subsequently featured in the Early Career Hospitalist track for SHM Converge in March. Learners gathered to learn more about ikigai and its implications for one’s personal life and for sustaining a joyful and meaningful career in medicine.
Dr. Shin’s journey of finding her ikigai stemmed from her love of connection with people. She turned that into a career focused on faculty development, and that later led her to work more closely on social wellness initiatives for her group at Emory Midtown in Atlanta. Dr. Molitch-Hou began his career volunteering with underserved populations, which led him to find his ikigai by working with a global-health track for residents as a way to have his time and work covered with academic work. Dr. Álvarez shared his experience with burnout at the end of his chief year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite aligning with his ikigai. He explained how intensity might matter as much as direction and proposed adapting the hara hachi bu concept, keeping your career 80% full. Dr. Patel related that his love and passion for teaching brought him to identify now as a teacher who gets to be a doctor, instead of a doctor who gets to teach.
Learners in the audience quickly found that finding their ikigai was not easily accomplished in one sitting. They partnered with fellow audience members to further evaluate career opportunities and apply a framework to find paths that would provide meaning.
Interested in trying to find your ikigai? Start by considering four questions:
- What do I love?
- What am I good at?
- What does the world need?
- What can I be paid (compensated) for?
Then move on to the second step, where you combine those answers to find the intersections of your passion, mission, profession, and vocation to identify your ikigai. The speakers noted that ikigai evolves, with no expectation to have anything all figured out at any point. The journey is more important than finding “it,” said Dr. Patel. The journey is a personal one, along a continuum of figuring out how to combine your passion and your work as a physician.
Dr. Spaeth
Dr. Spaeth is a hospitalist at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. She serves as a member of The Hospitalist magazine editorial board and is a member of the Physicians in Training committee.