What Four Things Make Up a Japanese Reason for Being?

Ross Edgley says a Japanese idea of a reason for being is why you get up in the morning, made of four things that all have to be there: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. He says people so often forget the paid part, almost become like a martyr, and are not making any money.

The chance to swim around Great Britain came up when the boat crew needed a deposit and a crew. At 32, Ross Edgley told his girlfriend he should probably do the responsible thing, get a house and a mortgage, or put the money on a boat and a crew and try to swim around Great Britain. She said she hated to say it, but he might be 80 with loads of money and able to buy loads of houses, and he was not going to be 31 or 32 with the ability to swim around Great Britain, so the money needed to go on the boat. He agreed, and they did the swim. He says it paid off, but he lost money swimming around Great Britain.

If someone wants him to do a swim, he says he needs to be paid, because he cannot keep doing unpaid swims or the work is a very expensive hobby. He says he is lucky to have reached a point where you could call it a career. When someone later offered a check for a swim, he took it because the money helps his son and any future kids.