Introduction

This post reflects on my journey through the Ikigai and VIA Character Strengths exercises. Through these activities, I explored what I love, what I’m good at, and what the world needs, and then used Google Gemini Brainstormer to design game ideas that align with who I am.

My Ikigai Results

What I Love

I love solving complex financial models and understanding how different variables come together to shape a bigger picture. I love learning new things, whether they’re related to finance or even history, because I enjoy connecting ideas across different fields. I love helping people in ways that make a real impact and genuinely make them feel better. And I love working with people who are as dedicated and passionate as I am.

What I Am Good At

I am good at staying calm in stressful situations and solving problems logically. I’m also good at communicating and bringing people together, helping teams work smoothly toward one goal. No matter how difficult situations get, I always stay resilient and focused until I find a solution.

What the World Needs

The world needs to stop forgetting the people who make real change, the ones who save lives, educate, and create hope. It needs fewer “famous faces” being treated like heroes, and more appreciation for true role models, like doctors, researchers, and educators who dedicate their lives to helping others. The world also needs people who care deeply, act with purpose, and try to make things genuinely better.

VIA Top Strength Results

Click this link for my VIA Strength results and if you want to read them, please look below:

1. Prudence: Being careful about one’s choices; not taking undue risks; not saying or doing things that might later be regretted.
2. Teamwork: Working well as a member of a group or team; being loyal to the group; doing one’s share.
3. Kindness: Doing favors and good deeds for others; helping them; taking care of them.
4. Humor: Liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing the light side; making (not necessarily telling) jokes.
5. Spirituality: Having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe; knowing where one fits within the larger scheme; having beliefs about the meaning of life that shape conduct and provide comfort.

Using AI to Brainstorm Game Ideas

After identifying my Ikigai and VIA strengths, I used Google Gemini Brainstormer to generate creative game ideas that connect to my personality and values.

Prompt I Used:

“My Ikigai
What I Love
I love solving complex financial models and understanding how different variables come together to shape a bigger picture. I love learning new things — whether they’re related to finance or even history — because I enjoy connecting ideas across different fields. I love helping people in ways that make a real impact and genuinely make them feel better. And I love working with people who are as dedicated and passionate as I am.
What I Am Good At
I am good at staying calm in stressful situations and solving problems logically. I’m also good at communicating and bringing people together, helping teams work smoothly toward one goal. No matter how difficult situations get, I always stay resilient and focused until I find a solution.
What the World Needs
The world needs to stop forgetting the people who make real change — the ones who save lives, educate, and create hope. It needs fewer “famous faces” being treated like heroes, and more appreciation for true role models, like doctors, researchers, and educators who dedicate their lives to helping others. The world needs people who care deeply, act with purpose, and try to make things genuinely better.

My VIA Results

Prudence – I tend to think carefully before making decisions. I don’t rush into things or take unnecessary risks. I like to analyze situations from different angles before acting, and I always consider the long-term impact of my choices.

Teamwork – I truly value collaboration. I enjoy working in groups where everyone contributes and supports one another. I always try to stay loyal to my team and make sure that no one is left behind, because I believe that great results come from shared effort.

Kindness – Helping others gives me genuine happiness. Whether it’s offering advice, listening, or simply making someone’s day better, I find meaning in doing good for others. It’s something that guides how I treat people in all aspects of my life.

Humor – I enjoy making people smile and lightening the mood when things get stressful. I believe humor is one of the best ways to connect with others and create a positive environment, especially during challenging times.

Spirituality – I have a deep belief that everything happens for a reason and that there’s a larger meaning behind life. My faith gives me comfort and direction, especially during difficult moments, and it reminds me to stay grounded, grateful, and hopeful.

Use any AI tool you like, maybe the Gemini Brainstormer. to enter your Ikigai results and VIA results, and ask it to help you decide a topic for your game”

AI Response

Wow, what a fantastic and thoughtful set of insights! It’s clear you have a brilliant mind and a deeply caring heart. Based on your Ikigai and VIA character strengths, we can cook up some truly inspiring game topics! I’m here to help you brainstorm and find that perfect idea that aligns with your passions, skills, and values.

Brainstorming Your Game Topic

Your combination of loving complex financial models, being great at calm, logical problem-solving and team-building, and your deep desire to appreciate unsung heroes creates an amazing foundation for a game. Let’s explore three concepts that tap into these areas:

1. The Resilience Initiative: A Global Impact Strategy Game

• The Idea: A cooperative strategy game where players take on the roles of founders of a new global non-profit or research foundation.
• How it aligns with you:
  • Ikigai: You’d be solving complex financial models (resource allocation, budgeting, fundraising), helping people in ways that make a real impact (funding projects like vaccine research, global education, or disaster relief), and focusing on the unsung heroes (doctors, researchers, educators) as the core beneficiaries of your decisions.
  • VIA: It heavily uses Prudence (long-term planning, risk assessment), Teamwork (mandatory collaboration to win), and Kindness (the core mission is altruistic).

2. The Historical Connection: Crossover Puzzle Game

• The Idea: A narrative-driven puzzle game where players must uncover a historical mystery by connecting seemingly unrelated events, figures, and financial data from different time periods.
• How it aligns with you:
  • Ikigai: This directly feeds your love for learning new things and connecting ideas across different fields (finance, history). The puzzles could involve complex financial models or resource flows to unlock the next piece of history.
  • VIA: Prudence is key to piecing together the narrative clues, and the Spirituality strength could be woven into the theme of “everything happens for a reason” as the historical connections are revealed.

3. The Stress-Buster CEO: A Communications & Crisis Management Sim

• The Idea: A team-based simulation game where players are C-suite executives of an organization facing a series of high-stakes crises (financial, PR, operational).
• How it aligns with you:
  • Ikigai: You get to be the person staying calm in stressful situations, using your logical problem-solving to navigate the crises, and exercising your skill in communicating and bringing people together to survive the week. It’s a game about how passionate, dedicated people (the players) drive success.
  • VIA: Humor can be a core mechanic (using clever, morale-boosting messages to calm the organization), and Teamwork is essential for coordinating responses. Kindness ensures player choices focus on ethical, people-first solutions.

That’s a powerful trio of concepts!

You can view the private link to my session here:
Gemini Brainstormer Session
(Note: It may only be viewable to me.)

Reflection

This assignment helped me to consider myself in a new way that I have not been open to before. As I got into the Ikigai, I found that I really am a pretty one-dimensional person, one who likes doing a handful of things and generally does not move out of his comfort zone. The questions made me reflect on what I really love, and I figured out that I am inclined to what I am familiar with, especially when it comes to such aspects of studying as finance or structured problem solving.

Next, I got my VIA results, and I saw Prudence was my number one strength, it all made sense. It confirmed my previous suspicion, that I am quite careful, perhaps, too careful, of venturing into new situations. I prefer to be in control, know results and to avoid unnecessary risk. But I also learned that I need to challenge this. Caution will save you, but it will tie you up. I believe that I should begin to step out of my comfort zone not because I am confident that it will be a success, but because despite the possibility of it not being that way, the lesson will be worth more than the penalty.

Reflecting on the game ideas from Gemini AI, two of them stood out to me: The Historical Connection and The Stress-Buster CEO.
In the case of The Historical Connection, I like the linking of finance with history, the notion that historical mysteries can be answered by financial data itself. To give a few examples, consider studying the data concerning the 2008 financial crisis, in which prices of houses, mortgage trends and risk models might actually assist players in discovering how a single decision could have had global ramifications. I adore such a puzzle, where it is not about some random clues, but about linking real-life situations, numbers, and logic to make one story.

In the case of The Stress-Buster CEO, I like best the stress part of the program. I have always been attracted to high pressure situations where speed of thinking and collaborative efforts were the only way out, and that is what being a CEO is all about. You have the final say on all decisions, all communications, and all results but you must remain yourself and guide others in the storm. I would like to imagine a game that will replicate that sensation, not as something glamorous, but as something that will make you patient and exercise your judgment and humanity at the same time.

Used Chatgbt for fixing grammatical errors