Our Yarigai system
The Yarigai diagram as #1 tool for meaningful entrepreneurship
The 4 Yarigai components
You don’t want to confuse the Ikigai with the Yarigai diagram. Although they share the same Venn diagram structure, the content within the structures very much differs.
The Yarigai diagram consists of four components:
- The Yarigai sweet-spot
- The 4 Yarigai questions
- The 4 Yarigai resources
- The 4 Yarigai results
Let’s cover all four components, one for one.
1. The Yarigai sweet-spot
When we bring up the not so famous concept Yarigai, people often confuses it with Ikigai (value of being). Even though Ikigai and Yarigai share a few important traits (like both being commonly used expressions in Japan), they are still very different. Yarigai is focused on doing (instead of being) and work (instead of life in general). Because of it, the Ikigai and Yarigai diagram are also very different.
2. The 4 Yarigai questions
To facilitate Yarigai, a good balance will be essential. The Yarigai questions will navigate you towards finding and maintaining the right balance regarding your values and goals. This leads to less resistance within your doing.
The questions connected to your core values part are: ‘What do I want to self-express?’ versus ‘What do I want to contribute?’ An obsessive focus on the self-expression part will result in being too selfish. Whereas an unhealthy focus on the contribution part leads to neglecting your own health, social and financial needs. Both not the way to go.
The opposing questions connected to your main goals part are: ‘What do I want to continue?’ versus ‘What do I want to create?’ Too much of the same leads to low energy, boredom or even bore-out. Too much focus on starting new challenges on the other hand leads to stress, overwork or burn-out.
By answering the Yarigai questions, you get more insight into your current (dis)balance. This is the first step towards a positive change. Next to this, you also get insight in how to better align your goals with your values. That’s because you’re getting more aware of the connection between those.
3. The 4 Yarigai resources
The yarigai resources are the blocks in the circles. They are the focus areas for answering the yarigai questions. The four yarigai resources are:
- Powerful passion (represents the red value system)
- Pictured potential (represents the purple value system)
- Powering people (represents the green value system)
- Planned purpose (represents the blue value system)
4. The 4 Yarigai results
The yarigai results are the blocks in the overlaps of the circles. They are the results of your answers to the yarigai questions. The four yarigai results are positioning, proposition, progress and presentation. Those results are all about entrepreneurship. The orange value system of Spiral Dynamics best reflects this.
The result areas are all about giving expression to your ambitions. To excel in your area and beat your competition. You’ll do this by having a swift strategy in place and being pragmatic, flexible and result-oriented. You won’t settle for less than what you’ll be capable of.
The 8 steps of the Yarigai system
To make more sense of the Yarigai diagram, you want to see the systemic interaction between the resources and results. For this, we’ve got the Yarigai steps. The Yarigai steps connects the resources to the results.
It’s valuable to go through each Yarigai resource and result and check out to what extent you’re giving substance to it. But to reap its fruits, you want to put Yarigai into practice. This can be done through the Yarigai steps. You can best view those steps as the roadmap towards experiencing more Yarigai: effortless and meaningful work. You basically activate the Yarigai diagram by going through the steps of the Yarigai system.
You could use the steps in different ways. In general for your entire business or just for a single product you want to develop. The processes have a cycling nature. Meaning, putting effort in the steps is really just an ongoing process. Both applications are useful. Let’s cover each step.
5️⃣ – Publicise by powering people:
Your most important stakeholders which contributes to more social impact.
6️⃣ – Metricise your profit:
The key performance indicators which contributes to more focus.
7️⃣ – Organise your planned purpose:
Your main business decisions which contributes to more structure.
8️⃣ – Revise your presentation:
Your brand vision, mission & values which contributes to more alignment.
1️⃣ – Initialise your powerful passion:
Your most important goals which contributes to more direction.
2️⃣ – Analyse your positioning:
Your main unique selling points which contributes to more differentiation.
3️⃣ – Visualise your pictured potential:
The visualisation of your best ideas which contributes to more clarity.
4️⃣ – Criticise your proposition:
The key customer pains & benefits which contributes to more functionality.
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The integration of Spiral Dynamics
The Spiral Dynamics model provides insight into the deeper motivations of human behavior. Take a look at the SD Summary Model to find out more about the main distinctions which can be made in order to better understand the model.
Spiral Dynamics consists of 8 different value systems. The beige (most primitive) and turquoise (most complex) value system are both excluded from the Yarigai system. All of the other value systems are connected to one or more of the input or output blocks of the Yarigai system.
The main reason for integrating Spiral Dynamics into the Yarigai system is because healthy systems are essential in order to use the related qualities, like having a strong picture focus which is connected to the purple value system.
Free yarigai guide for sustainable business development
This Yarigai guide helps entrepreneurs & teams to realise their ambitions in a more sustainable way. You’ll learn more about:
- Why you should use the yarigai diagram
- How the yarigai diagram & system works
- How to utilise the value of the diagram