From the first days at the bank, I felt that something was missing.

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The bank where I worked gave me an opportunity to work for 3 years in Sydney, Australia. It was an important professional leap with new responsibilities and a personal adventure in an extraordinary country that I had always wanted to have.

After having emptied my apartment in Paris, having sent my boxes with the moving and about to have my farewell party, 3 days before the trip, I received a call from my boss telling me that I could no longer leave, justifying that it was still uncertain times due to the financial crisis.

At this point I knew that I could not stay with this company any longer.

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I was a classic French-style high achiever. I had achieved everything. I was a very good student and followed the "royal road" (as they call it in France) by being admitted to one of the best business schools in France. He had achieved the dream of the French educational system.

I didn't think much about it, I was attracted to finance and followed this "perfect" path starting my professional career as an investment banker. I worked in amazing places, traveled a lot, had good career opportunities, a very good salary, interesting projects, and was really good at what I did. For many, I had achieved a dream life. I couldn't complain.

But from the first days at the bank, I had the feeling that something was missing.

I didn't know what it was but I remember not wanting to go to the office and counting the hours before I could go home. I knew I wasn't passionate about what I was doing and I read everywhere that to be fulfilled you had to find your passion and then you would live very happily. But then what?

After the cancelled trip to Sydney, I resigned. I left the bank not knowing what I was going to do next, I felt betrayed, a mere license plate number. I went away for a few months, I disconnected.

In less than two years, I went from being a banker in Europe to being a social entrepreneur at México, where I have been living for almost 8 years. Despite having a settled working life, why did I decide to do something totally different with a lot more risks?

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Ikigai: finding meaning

The Japanese would say that I had found my Ikigai, which could be translated as the reason for living or the purpose of life. In their book Ikigai, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles explain that for the Okinawan Japanese, the Ikigai is "the reason why you get up every day". The inhabitants of Ogimi in Okinawa are famous for being part of one of the Blue Zones; those places in the world where people have a very long longevity.

They claim that one of the secrets to a long life is to never stop working and having activities. They are always engaged in some activity that gives them meaning.

The following diagram shows the 4 components that we need to put together to find the Ikigai:

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When I was a banker, I was in between the areas of Profession and Passion. But in my mind, I felt that I was not doing something that the world needed. I felt satisfied but with a great sense of futility.

During my travels, I had read a book by the Dalai Lama that had helped me become aware of how I could be useful to the world: by serving others - particularly those who need it most. It may sound obvious, but who doesn't want to reduce poverty or eliminate social injustice? To the social, familial and cultural world I come from, it was not so much.

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After working on these issues with a coach, I realized that serving others could be my life purpose. After volunteering on a few projects, I realized that I also felt a strong pull to be an entrepreneur as well. With three other co-founders, we created Connovo, a social impact company builder that replicates successful social enterprises in other countries at México.

I found that being an entrepreneur is very challenging. I had a lot of uncertainties: about my ability to make it, about the business model, about what others might say if I failed.

I imagined the comments: "We told you so. This is not for you. Go back to Paris and stop playing social entrepreneur at México." Raising funding was really a challenge.

We were new entrepreneurs, I had used my own savings to find funding. It was a very ambitious dream and I had many anxious moments. But I really liked developing this project, I believed deeply in what we could achieve and I had great co-founders. Above all I had a sense of accomplishment. I was doing what I felt was right for me at this time.

In the end, being persistent paid off and a Dutch foundation gave us seed capital to start the company. It helped me to have confidence in my entrepreneurial skills and to start making a living out of it. In the beginning, we paid ourselves a minimum wage and I managed to generate enough income to make a decent living from my work a few years later.

At that moment, I had arrived at my Ikigai doing something that I loved, that gave me a living, that brought something positive to the world and that (I think) I was good at.

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How to find your Ikigai?

Finding your Ikigai requires a deep exploration of our being to become aware of it. As it is personal, everyone has their own way of finding it.

Here's what worked for me:
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1. Seek accompaniment: A life coach, therapist or spiritual guide has practices that can help you find meaning in your existence. After I resigned and took a vacation, I sought out someone with expertise in career transition. Although I was beginning to feel that I needed to have a work activity that could have a positive impact on the world, I had no idea what to do, I didn't know where to start and I was afraid. I found a coach who had had a personal and professional path very similar to mine; I contacted him and there was a "click" between us, generating a great trust and complicity.

It helped me to design a professional path closer to my interests, principles and values, and to make strong decisions that implied leaving everything behind and starting from scratch.

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2. Live new experiences and take risks: As Joseph Campbell says:

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"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of path that has been there all along, waiting for you, and the life you should be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

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With my coach, I had identified a path. I helped develop a network of investors in Europe, I was a volunteer in Tanzania analyzing agricultural projects, and I started a program to support social entrepreneurs at México for a year. My goal was to "validate" if I liked this sector because I already knew that these experiences fulfilled a part of my Ikigai.

I realized that social entrepreneurship and impact investing really appealed to me. I also understood that I wanted to be an entrepreneur even though I had no experience. I was afraid of failure but I was more afraid of not trying and going back to France.

Living new experiences opens up new perspectives.

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3. Surround yourself with people who believe in you: In my opinion, the most important thing of all is to have a support network that believes in you and in your new life projects. Because when we change there are always moments of uncertainty and existential doubts. My girlfriend and future wife was the key person who helped me in these moments of uncertainty, always believing in me. I also had incredible co-founders and we built this dream together and supported each other in difficult moments.

Finding your Ikigai is walking with you, following your intuition, exploring and living new experiences, leaning on people who believe in you, and sometimes leaving the life you had built.

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"We must be willing to give up the life we planned in order to live the life that awaits us."

- Joseph Campbell