What you love
The things that give you energy instead of draining it. What you would do on a free Saturday.
Free Ikigai test · quick version
Ikigai Blueprint. 生き甲斐
Discover your life purpose & career fit.
Ikigai (生き甲斐) is a Japanese idea that means a reason for being. It sits where four things meet: what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what people value from you. This test maps where yours meet, so you can see what drives you and which kind of work fits.
Quick version. Rule-based and free, runs in your browser. A deeper AI version is next in the lab.
First, what is Ikigai?
Ikigai 生き甲斐
A Japanese idea that means "a reason for being". The thing that makes you want to get up in the morning.
People use it to answer two big questions: what is my purpose? and what kind of work fits me?
In Japan it's often small and daily: a morning walk, a craft, the people you look after. The popular four-circle map turns it into a simple question: where do these four things meet for you?
Two circles together give you a passion, mission, profession or vocation. All four together is your ikigai. Most people have two or three strong circles and one thin one. Finding the thin one is the useful part.
The classic map says "what you can be paid for". Here we ask what people value from you, so it works whether or not you want to earn from it.
The four circles
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What you're good at
The skills people keep asking you for, even the ones you take for granted.
What the world needs
The problems you notice again and again, and the people you want to help.
What people value
What people come back to you for. Proof that what you do lands.
Why take the test
- See your purpose and career fit. Passion, mission, profession and vocation, each with a score.
- Find the thin circle. The one holding you back, and what that feels like day to day.
- Get your type. One of six, with your strength and your blind spot.
- Leave with a plan. Three small experiments for the next 7 days.
How it works
- 4 circles, 5 questions each. Pick answers, rate a few statements, add your own words if you like.
- Be honest, not ideal. Answer for your life now, not the one you plan.
- Retake in a month. Run the experiments first, then see what moved.
Your blueprint ·
Ikigai score0/100
A note on the method: the four-circle diagram is a modern Western adaptation. In Japan, ikigai simply means what makes life worth living, often small and daily. Treat this as a thinking tool, not a verdict. Run the experiments, then take the test again in a month.
Have a full-time job? Before you turn any of this into paid work, read your contract's outside-activity and IP clauses.
This is the quick version. Want the deeper AI version when it lands? Join the journal waitlist. Free, nothing for sale.