https://omaciel.github.io/series/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai/Recent content in Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai on Og Maciel's JournalHugoen-usMon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2026-01-26-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-you-can-be-paid-for/Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2026-01-26-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-you-can-be-paid-for/<h1 id="tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-you-can-be-paid-for">Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What You Can Be Paid For</h1> <h2 id="what-it-means-when-your-paycheck-no-longer-reflects-what-youre-building">What it means when your paycheck no longer reflects what you’re building</h2> <p><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uYPZ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F41866774-e6eb-41da-8474-de96b8d14ce3_1536x1024.heic"><img src="https://omaciel.github.io/images/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-you-can-be-paid-for-01.jpg" alt=""></a></p> <p>Illustration generated using AI image tools, prompted and directed by the author.</p> <p><strong>“<em><strong><strong>I need you to give me a date for your last day.</strong></strong></em>”</strong></p> <p>There was nothing subtle about it. I had already told my manager—clearly and more than once—that I didn’t have anything else lined up yet, and that I was still looking for something that aligned with my values and the kind of work I wanted to do next. That didn’t seem to matter. The pressure continued anyway.</p>https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-27-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-the-world-needs-and-what-we-miss/Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-27-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-the-world-needs-and-what-we-miss/<h1 id="tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-the-world-needs-and-what-we-miss">Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What the World Needs, and What We Miss</h1> <h3 id="an-ikigai-reflection-on-people-systems-and-wasted-potential">An Ikigai reflection on people, systems, and wasted potential</h3> <p><img src="https://omaciel.github.io/images/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-cfd-image-1.heic" alt="">Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: Where I Feel Needed</p> <p>I’ve been circling four Ikigai questions lately: <a href="https://ogmaciel.substack.com/p/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai">what you love</a>, <a href="https://ogmaciel.substack.com/p/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what">what you’re good at</a>, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The framework has four overlapping parts, and I’m writing through them one at a time, in the order they’re actually showing up for me.</p>https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-21-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-im-good-at/Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-21-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-im-good-at/<h1 id="tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-im-good-at">Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai: What I’m Good At</h1> <h3 id="lessons-from-feedback-fire-drills-and-the-quiet-work-of-helping-people-find-clarity">Lessons from feedback, fire drills, and the quiet work of helping people find clarity</h3> <p><img src="https://omaciel.github.io/images/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-what-image-1.heic" alt="">What I’m Good At</p> <p>I’m officially done with work for the year.</p> <p>This past Friday wrapped things up cleanly—no loose ends, no unfinished tasks—and I now have two full weeks ahead of me. Some of that time comes from the usual year-end shutdown, some from time off I’d accumulated. All of it feels intentionally quiet.</p>https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-09-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai/Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://omaciel.github.io/posts/2025-12-09-tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai/<h1 id="tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai">Tracing the Edges of My Ikigai</h1> <p><img src="https://omaciel.github.io/images/tracing-the-edges-of-my-ikigai-image-1.jpg" alt="a person holding a book in their hand">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@eysiiyan">Acy Ian Malimban</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com">Unsplash</a></p> <p>The end of the year is quickly approaching, and this is the season when people managers get busy completing performance reviews for the engineers who report to them. Some organizations do this once a year; here, we do it every quarter. As I’ve been having these conversations—talking with my team about what excites them about the year ahead, what their goals might be, and what their aspirations look like—the word <em>Ikigai</em> has surfaced more than once.</p>