Achieving True Self-Awareness

presented 6.20.2026 by Bruce Kasanoff

Background: Five months ago, I created an AI-guided conversation called Ikigai Explorer. My intention was to use it with my executive coaching clients as a useful add-on. The feedback was so incredible that I created a new version for the general public, and offered it at the lowest price possible, just $18.

Results: Thank you notes and testimonials poured in (see some of them at the end of this page). Most people spent four to five hours, often over multiple days, in the conversation of their life. They reported never having been seen or heard so deeply (even though they were talking with an AI.

Observations: Here’s what I’ve learned so far…

— People aren’t been seen or heard by the AI; they are witnessing their own life with clarity, perhaps for the first time. The AI is an enabler, not the actual witness.

— It’s tremendously difficult to achieve and maintain true self-awareness. Inside our head tends to be a busy, noisy, sometimes self-critical (or senselessly deluded) place. Thus, most of us think we’re self-aware, but we’re not.

— Ikigai Explorer is one of the first tools that’s flexible and persistent enough to guide you toward self-awareness. It’s as close to unbiased as an observer can get. It has no ego to get in the way. It has no sense of time, and won’t get bored or impatient with your story.

—It works because it creates tension between the core Ikigai concepts that drive your life: what you love, where your talents lie, what others need from you, and what people in the past have been willing to pay you to do.

—Even the best coaches, partners, mentors and friends are only human. The best of us are busy and/or very expensive. We can’t sit and listen to every client for five or six hours straight. Ikiga Explorer can.

Questions: I have come first to METAL, because in my first visit I was tremendously impressed and moved by the people I met. I seek you help in giving me feedback and helping me decide how to bring Ikigai Explorer to vast numbers of people.

1.) My guiding principle is “serve, don’t sell”. I suck at selling. How do I use Ikigai Explorer to serve more people? To date, about 500 people have completed a session.

2.) Who should know about this? Can you introduce me?

3.) If/when you complete you own Ikigai Explorer session, what was your experience?

Ikigai Explorer asks you questions, and then more questions underneath those questions, the way a good therapist or a trusted coach might. But this is very different from working with either.

The guide is much more patient and generous with its time. Virtually no one spends five hours straight with their coach. With them, you can’t get up, go running and jump back into the conversation. You can’t wake up at 2 a.m. and keep talking.

But with the guide, you can.

When it's over, you get a written transcript of the entire conversation, filled with the words you never before could summon to describe your life, needs, goals and desires.

You’ll also receive a summary—your Ikigai map—that reflects back what emerged.

Here's what you don't get: a personality type, a color, an archetype, a label. No "you're an ENFP" or "you're a visionary." Ikigai Explorer isn't trying to put you in a box. It's trying to find what's true about you specifically, and what makes you unique.

What I can tell you is this: the people who've done it aren't describing a product. They're describing an experience. One of them called it "soul-satisfying." Another said she was moved to tears.

Four to five hours. Full written transcript. Your personal Ikigai map. $18

Testimonials

"What you have created is beyond my comprehension whilst being something that has consumed me, in a positive way with full awareness. It is incredible and I am so grateful. To following you from posts on LinkedIn, to someone changing my life is understandably a quantum leap." —Carolyn R.

"I have been deeply and profoundly touched by the ikigai experience. It took me nearly five hours to complete because I was brutally honest, shared too much, and held nothing back. This has been one of the most emotionally resonating experiences of my life." —Jon H.

“I just finished the Ikigai Explorer. It was revelational. —Saeed P.

”I don't know how you did it, but you built an incredible tool. I've spent 3 hours with it today and we've done amazing work and I have something really tangible and revelatory to work with. I am so grateful. It was a profound experience and i think it might just change the course of my life. Astonishing!” —Emma G.

“HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Ikigai Explorer asks a series of questions, which you answer in a straightforward manner, and before you know it, you are contemplating why you are really here and whether you are doing what you are truly meant to be doing in your life. Your final output is an Ikigai analysis based on the discussion. I stayed up way too late last night going on a journey to my own interior life with this app. It’s amazing!” —Linda C

"I absolutely loved that experience...it truly was remarkable and so sensitive. Beautiful and life-affirming exercise, I'm glad it popped on my LinkedIn and thank you for sharing it." —Karen Q.

”Ikigai Explorer is invaluable. Like talking to the best counsellor, who says the right things, pushes gently, encourages, summarises, and really understands. I have no idea how you put it together, but you did an incredible job and it is well worth the money, no question. I am going to recommend it to everyone I can think of! I am coming up to retirement, so I wanted to get an idea of directions to go in. I feel like I am already doing what I love and am in the right place as it were, but I have been encouraged and inspired to move ahead in two specific areas that I think are right for me. From the bottom of my heart - thank you." —Bryan A.

Got questions? Drop me a note and I’ll get right back to you.