Ikigai in Practice: A Live Coaching Walkthrough With Prashant

This session is the second in a series of practical Ikigai demonstrations, where the four-circle framework — what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for — is applied live to a real person instead of talked about in the abstract. If you haven't seen the first video in the series, it's worth watching first for context on the model itself. Here, the coach sits down with a participant, Prashant, and works through each quadrant out loud, question by question, until a genuine intersection starts to emerge.

Setting Up the Four Circles

The session opens with a simple instruction: open a notepad or document and write down four headings — Love, Good At, Paid For, and World Needs. Rather than asking abstract questions, the coach walks Prashant through each one conversationally, treating the exercise like a relaxed interview rather than a worksheet.

What He Loves

The "Love" column fills up quickly and honestly: family time, traveling, good food, exercise, cricket, riding his bike, cooking for people, planning trips and outings, and decorating spaces. None of these are treated as too small or too silly to count — the coach is explicit that even something like "I like good food" is worth writing down, because comfort and preference matter in this exercise, not just ambition.

A clear thread starts to show up here: Prashant enjoys being around people, organizing get-togethers, and creating shared experiences — whether that's a bike trip, a cooking session, or a party.

What He's Good At

Moving into the "Good At" column, the coach probes for skills people don't always think to name. Prashant identifies himself as hardworking — willing to put in long hours when a task demands it — and persistent, someone who doesn't give up easily under pressure. But the more interesting skill that surfaces is relational: he's good at explaining things to other people and making them feel understood. The coach specifically draws this out, noting that being able to make someone "feel understood" is a distinct and valuable skill, separate from just being smart or hardworking.

This becomes a recurring theme — people management, communication, and the ability to connect with others keep resurfacing across the different quadrants rather than staying confined to one box.

What the World Needs

For the "World Needs" section, the conversation broadens into bigger-picture territory: gaps in education, in healthcare access, and in the political system. The coach reflects that if people were taught practical life skills early — about health, relationships, and money — from childhood, many of the mistakes people make later (career missteps, unhealthy relationships, poor financial habits) could be avoided. There's also a longer aside about the state of India's political and administrative systems, and how basic processes could be made friendlier and more responsive to ordinary people. These broader reflections are less about pinning down Prashant's ikigai directly and more about warming up his thinking on what kind of contribution feels meaningful at scale.

What He Can Be Paid For

This is where the session gets most concrete. The coach and Prashant brainstorm income paths tied to the strengths already identified: working in fitness or coaching roles, working in industries connected to travel and hospitality (travel companies, adventure camps, retreats), and roles centered on people management — coordinating teams, organizing groups, and connecting people to each other. There's also a broader discussion about career strategy: which kind of company to join, why joining a smaller or growing company can offer more visibility and faster growth than a large, established one, and the value of proving yourself in a role before expecting recognition or advancement.

The coach also touches on emerging-industry thinking — noting shifts like remote work, digital marketing, and alternative energy (solar power) as areas worth paying attention to over the next several years, while being careful to frame these as observations rather than guarantees.

Where It All Converges

By the end of the exercise, a pattern is unmistakable: across "Love," "Good At," and "Paid For," the same themes keep repeating — people management, fitness and health, and travel. The coach names this directly, pointing out that when the same two or three threads show up again and again across all four circles, that repetition is the signal. It's not about forcing an answer; it's about noticing what keeps showing up unprompted.

The session closes with a reminder that this process works because it starts from honest self-observation rather than a checklist of "impressive" answers — and that the same exercise can be done with a friend, a partner, or a family member.