If you are an entrepreneur, what is the main motivating factor for you in starting a business? Besides making money
It’s not wrong to have a business idea to make more money, however, money is more like an external motivation, which also means that it might be short term
Think about it, if you start a business and within a period of time, you find that you are not making as much money as you will like, what might you do? Most of the time, people will give up and maybe think of another business idea
Very few will decide to persevere, to endure through the hard times, because they believe in themselves, and in their business
And that my friend, is what I want to focus on today – that internal motivation of passion and purpose
Passion and Purpose
In simple terms, a passion is something which you love and enjoy doing, while a purpose is the reason for doing something
So what happens when we align passion with purpose?
We get a strong reason for doing something that we love and enjoy!
And if you want to, you can turn that into a business and make money as a side effect
The main focus is that passion and purpose which is crucial for being an entrepreneur
With the same scenario or question as above, the entrepreneur with passion and purpose will focus and think of other ways to make the business work, because they so believe in it
And in doing so, they are setting the foundations for their success!
A Little Story
If you don’t know me yet, my name is Lee McKing and I am a hypnotist
I started being a hypnotist not because I always wanted to be a hypnotist, rather it was because I had to learn hypnosis to resolve my own mental health issues of depression, PTSD, and anxiety
And after resolving my own issues, I realized it was an effective tool in which the public awareness of hypnosis is not there, or largely skewed towards the entertainment, or even negative associations
My passion and purpose for starting a hypnosis practice in 2015 was to help people effectively resolve their mental health issues, and heal their suffering
And yes, it wasn’t easy because of public misconceptions, being open to hypnosis, willing to talk about mental health etc
Fast forward and I’ve been featured on multiple platforms like The New Paper, Shout, MOSG, Rice, Britishpedia, and even getting Hypnotist of the Year 2020!
Now I’m sharing my story just a bit, so you can imagine as a hypnotist in Singapore, how tough it might have been, and yet, because of passion and purpose, which helped me realign whenever I am facing troubles (and I had my fair share), that I got to where I am today
The Idea of Ikigai
You might have heard of ikigai already!
It is a Japanese concept that refers to “a passion that gives value and joy to life” (Got the meaning directly from here!)
It looks at 4 sectors, “what you are good at”, “what you love”, “what the world needs”, and “what you can be paid for”, and how they overlap each other
For example, “what you are good at” can overlap with “what you love” and this is your passion and when all 4 sectors overlap each other, you get your ikigai in the centre
Here’s mine! I mentioned earlier my passion is to help people to heal effectively, and you can see in the red area, my passion is to help people!
Even the profession at the bottom describes finding new and creative ways to solve problems – what more creative and new other than hypnosis!
If we look to the top for my mission, to work numbers, data etc in a predictable, fixed orderly manner, well, although hypnosis is a bit more flexible, I do use my past clients’ cases and information, as well as psychology, and analysis, to make accurate predictions about my clients and their backgrounds, even sometimes, making predictions about how their issues might progress, or how their relationship will turn out, because humans work in patterns!
Looking to the right, it states my vocation is in education, community services etc and while I do love volunteering too, I use my website (as well as during clients’ consultations) to educate them on the mind and how their minds work, so they can make informed decisions, or have better awareness of themselves
Finally, all these overlap in the centre for my ikigai – as a counselling psychologist!
Of course, this can relate to a therapist job too, like a hypnotist!
It fits perfectly!
You Can Find Your Own Ikigai
In fact, I encourage you to do so especially if you are feeling a little lost in life, wondering what is your life purpose
It’s a little long, but the results are usually good, so you can do the test here
As a reminder, you don’t have to take it word for word, just like how a counselling psychologist doesn’t mean only a counselling psychologist
Even if you are not an entrepreneur, knowing what your ikigai is can also help you to find a job which you love, and enjoy doing, which also means less stress!
Less stress means better mental health, so you don’t need to make an appointment to see me 😉
Til next time!
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This blog features articles by guest writers from LeeMcKing.sg
Featured image shows Lee McKing and his book, The Better Business Book
