This week I have been participating in a Train the Trainer course at Happy Computers - an award-winning training company famous for their learner-focused training, being one of the top small companies to work for in the UK, and for their freezer full of free ice-cream for staff and trainees. Yum.

Really focusing this week on my approach as a trainer and how to be better started me thinking of how much I love training and facilitating learning in others. That 'light blub' moment when a participant really understands a concept or practical application is priceless. The more I train the more I want to train. Out of all the activities I do (writing included), it's probably my favourite and one I leap out of bed for.

‘Ikigai’ is the Japanese concept for having a reason to wake up in the morning. The Japanese believe that this is one of most important elements in a person's life and studies have shown that people with 'ikigai' live longer and more fulfilling lives (in this TEDxTC talk, Dan Buettner includes ‘ikigai’ as one of the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep elders spry past age 100).

The Japanese also believe that the search for our ‘ikigai’ is an important one and that one can never be truly fulfilled until you find it.

In work it is those ‘flow’ moments that are our ‘ikigai’ where your skills and the challenge are perfectly aligned and time seems to stand still.  It’s being able to recognise where your unique talents lie and facilitate your work, as much as you can, to create your own ‘ikigai’ in your daily work, not just turn up to get a pay-check. Life is too short (in the West anyway).

But finding your ‘ikigai’ does not have to mean quitting your job and saving the world. Everyday we can find ‘ikigai’ in everything we do, if we just slow down enough to register it. Perhaps your daily ‘ikigai’ is smiling at a stranger, helping a colleague with their work, or picking up something special for dinner that you know your family loves.

These small moments bring meaning into our life and make it worth getting out of bed for.