Diagnostic report · Revision 2026.1
The Ikigai Test
A structural report measuring how you allocate time and attention across four independent scales, identifying where your week builds momentum and where friction accumulates.
01 · Ikigai Methodology
Four scale framework
In Japanese literature, iki refers to daily living and gai to worth. Mieko Kamiya documented the concept in 1966 as a plural, reconstructible framework describing what brings sustained value to everyday life.
The assessment evaluates that value across four separate scales. Your narrowest scale reveals where daily routines run a deficit, establishing the baseline for your diagnostic report.
Every reading is drawn from the record you supply, described in the terms the Japanese literature has used since 1966.
02 · How It Works
Stage-01
Excavation
You record the routine of a typical week. Every entry feeds into all four scales simultaneously to distinguish active habits from intended priorities, ensuring no single answer skews the results.
Stage-02
Cartography
Each scale is calculated independently. The variance between your scores maps your profile to one of twelve primary archetypes, while highlighting secondary patterns running just beneath the surface.
Stage-03
Integration
Your reading translates into targeted operational shifts designed to strengthen your constrained scale while maintaining performance across your primary strengths.
03 · Diagnostic Report Preview
A look inside the report
Select a dimension to read its values
The Creative
Connector
Stated priorities and tracked hours function as separate variables to chart divergence across your routines.
Love holds your highest stated priority at 88 against 64 observed hours, creating a net drift of +24.
Plate II · Matched roles
Eight professional categories aligned with your overlap, ordered by structural fit across all four scales.
+5 matched roles inside
Plate III · Reference figures
Fourteen historical and contemporary figures whose documented working routines were mapped across the same four dimensions for direct comparison.
14 reference figures inside
Plate IV · First moves
Three first moves, ordered by impact on your primary drift.
3 of 9 moves shown
04 · Ikigai Taxonomy Database
05 · Catalog Research
The Research Behind It
This platform builds upon established research in human motivation and daily habits, mapping each scale directly to peer-reviewed literature.
Catalogued literature · six entries
[REF-1966] Ikigai ni Tsuite (Mieko Kamiya)
Misuzu Shobo, Tokyo.
The foundational text establishing ikigai as a plural, dynamic state that can be reconstructed through intentional habits.
[REF-1989] Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? (Carol D. Ryff)
J. Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081.
Presents the six-factor model of psychological functioning that underpins the Need and Sustain metrics.
[REF-2006] The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, Frazier, Oishi & Kaler)
J. Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93.
A validated framework distinguishing active engagement in life processes from passive goal seeking.
[REF-2000] The What and Why of Goal Pursuits (Deci & Ryan)
Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
Examines intrinsic motivation versus external demands, providing the basis for scoring Love, Gift, and Need independently.
[REF-1996] What Makes Life Worth Living? (Gordon Mathews)
University of California Press.
Field research detailing how ikigai operates in daily practice, offering a realistic alternative to popular four-circle diagrams.
[REF-2018] Ikigai as Eudaimonic Well-Being (Michiko Kumano)
Applied Research in Quality of Life, 13, 419–433.
Defines ikigai as long-term eudaimonic engagement rather than temporary satisfaction, grounding the assessment in structural metrics.
06 · Initiate Diagnostic
Your typical week already forms a clear pattern. The assessment gives you the framework to read it.