Table of Contents
The Ikigai Adventure A Journey Through the Stations of Happiness 11
Part 1 A Journey Through Our Future 17
1st Station: Shinkansen "Bullet train" thinking 22
2nd Station: Mount Fuji Stretching the boundaries 31
3rd Station: Ganbarimasu The power of patience and perseverance 39
4th Station: New Habits 21 days to change your life 46
5th Station: Feedback How others see us 52
6th Station: Senpai Put a mentor (or two) in your life 56
7th Station: Emulating Discovering, imitating and outdoing 63
8th Station: Your Element Through what you don't like, you'll get to what you do 71
9th Station: Franklin A method for strengthening our virtues 78
10th Station: Gasshuku "Shinkansen sessions" 84
11th Station: Adventure Stepping outside your comfort zone 90
12th Station: Timing Taking each train in time 94
13th Station: Pareto The 80/20 rule 99
14th Station: The Power of Words Give your projects memorable names 105
Part 2 A Journey Through Our Past 111
15th Station: Kindergarten Recovering the power of children 115
16th Station: Nostalgia Returning to the source of our happiness 122
17th Station: Friendship Reboot your friend map 125
18th Station: Hindsight Connect the dots 130
19th Station: Analog How to go on a digital diet 133
20th Station: Slow Life You can get a long way walking slowly 139
Part 3 A Journey Through Our Present 143
21st Station: Presence If you aim at two ducks, you miss them both 147
22nd Station: To Write is to Select The power of putting pen to paper 152
23rd Station: Haiku Awaken your inner poet 156
24th Station: Crucial Decisions Initiatives that change your life forever 159
25th Station: Night Shift Activating the nighttime office 164
26th Station: Enso The circle of inner harmony 168
27th Station: Koan The power of lateral thinking 172
28th Station: Mindfulness Cultivating your undivided attention 176
29th Station: Serendipity When accidents are fortunate 179
30th Station: Rak Random Acts of Kindness 185
31st Station: Touch The importance of touching 188
32nd Station: Uncertainty The best plan is not to have one 192
33rd Station: Kaizen Constantly changing for the better 196
34th Station: Kyudo The art of archery 202
35th Station: Toshogu The lesson of the three monkeys 206
How to Awaken the Power of Ikigai
Tune in to your life goals 211
The end is the beginning 220
The 35 keys to living your ikigai 221
Acknowledgements 223