This article is written in English for international readers.
1. The Will, Can, Must Framework
One of my favorite concepts is the Will, Can, Must framework.
Simply put, it’s the idea that when what you want to do (Will), what you can do (Can), and what you must do (Must) align, you can achieve something truly meaningful. This framework is commonly used in career design and self-realization, where finding the overlapping "trinity zone" of these three elements leads to activities in which you can fully immerse yourself, achieve tangible results, and be appreciated by others.
2. The "Hell" Ratio in Employment
Unfortunately, for someone like me who struggles with life challenges, this framework can work completely in the opposite way in the workplace.
I don’t want to do certain tasks, I can handle them to some extent but it’s exhausting, yet I must do them… it’s hell 😿
When Must (what I must do) dominates, it becomes extremely draining. In reality, employment is something most people do to survive, but my intense fixations mean there are many tasks I resist yet must perform. Even tasks I am capable of become sources of extreme stress, leading to exhaustion and declining performance in a vicious cycle.
3. Shifting to Creative Activities
Setting aside this difficult reality, how about creative pursuits?
Within a single month, I released over a dozen simulators and games. They were admittedly rushed, but they were fueled by a powerful Will—a genuine desire to create.
According to a deep analysis by ChatGPT, this drive came from my fundamental wish to understand my own life.
Let’s reflect on the levels of Will, Can, and Must in my creative work.
My debut project, the Life Price Simulator, calculates the cost per second of living based on annual expenses, then determines how many seconds of life one yen can afford.
4. Will, Can, Must in the Life Price Simulator
🎯 Will: 100
My strong desire to create something interesting and tangible drove this project.
The inspiration came from a simple yet thought-provoking question: "What is the true value of 1 yen?" I had heard that picking up a 1-yen coin from the street could cost more in time and effort than it’s worth. Meanwhile, the first revenue my blog generated was 8 yen (a tiny but meaningful amount contributed by readers). This prompted me to explore what a few yen might mean in terms of my own life, ultimately giving birth to this simulator.
💻 Can: 80, thanks to AI
With AI assistance, I estimated I could create a functional calculator embedded in my blog’s HTML.
Without AI, I would not have been able to write a single line of code—my Can would have been near zero. At best, I could have posted manually calculated results. However, my intense Will to let others experience my thought experiment interactively led me to leverage AI, dramatically expanding my capabilities.
💡 Must: 20 (desperate for survival)
There was also a desire to break through my current situation and possibly achieve some success.
At the core of this Must was my urgent need: survival itself. Facing near-certain job loss next year and struggling with depression and a developmental disorder that make sustained employment extremely difficult for me, these creative endeavors—through blogging, simulators, and games—became my way of exploring viable paths forward.
5. AI as Wings and the Equation of Hope
Numerically, the balance was roughly Will:Can:Must = 100:80:20.
AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok elevated my Can and lowered the barriers to creation. I am deeply grateful to these AIs for giving me wings of possibility.
In the harsh reality of employment, I was trapped in a "hell" dominated by Must. In creative activities, however, Will took the lead, Can was amplified by AI, and Must—survival itself—transformed from a mere obligation into a meaningful path pursued with passion. When Will reached 100 and Can was boosted to 80 through AI, Must evolved into a path worth following wholeheartedly. For me, the Will, Can, Must framework in creation was far more than a career tool—it became a hopeful equation capable of reversing the balance between life’s difficulties and hope for living. These dozen-plus simulators and games, imperfect as they may be, stand as living proof of my struggle to solve that equation.
6. What Are Your Will, Can, Must Values?
How about your own activities?
When you create something—whether a blog post, daily cooking, other creative works, or your job—what are your approximate Will, Can, and Must values?
When all three are high, it is truly a wonderful state.
I sincerely hope that your daily endeavors lead to a rich and fulfilling life.
Thank you for reading this article.
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