The following questions will help you assess your own life balance. There are six areas with ten questions in each area. Give yourself one point for every statement that is true for you.
A wise thing to do is to write down your scores on something you can easily carry with you. It will help you remember your strengths, which is more important than remembering your weaknesses.
PHYSICAL
1. Good physical health is important to me
2. My personal habits encourage good physical health
3. I have had a physical from a doctor with in the last two years
4. I get at least 100 minutes per week of aerobic exercise each week
5. I get adequate rest and relaxation time
6. I took a real vacation within the last year
7. My weight is appropriate for my age and height
8. I have adequate health insurance
9. I do not smoke
10. I emphasize good health in my family
How many yes answers?
FINANCIAL
1. I place proper emphasis on money and what it will buy
2. I do not spend money carelessly
3. I am never "short of cash"
4. I routinely add to my savings account
5. I live within my budget
6. I have retirement savings that I add to regularly
7. I rarely neglect other areas of my life in pursuit of money
8. I could manage three months without working if necessary
9. I have adequate life insurance coverage
10. I have good credit
How many yes answers?
SOCIAL
1. I like people
2. I relate well to different kinds of people
3. I plan my social life
4. I have a large circle of friends
5. I have several circles of friends
6. I am a good listener
7. I am actively involved in a social or service organization
8. I take a leadership role in at least one of my social or service organizations
9. I am optimistic about the direction our society is going
10. I have done something in the past year to improve our society
How many yes answers?
MENTAL
1. I believe in developing myself to my full potential
2. I consistently strive to improve myself
3. I regularly read for self-improvement
4. I regularly read periodicals and professional journals
5. I have a well-rounded education
6. I have hobbies and outside interests
7. I have take a class or had training in the past two years
8. I am generally curious
9. I associate current events with the effects they will have on me, my family and my career10
10. I listen to several points of view before drawing my opinion or conclusions
How many yes answers?
SPIRITUAL
1. I have specific ethical standards for myself
2. My behavior is consistent with those standards
3. My ethical standards contain do's as well as don'ts
4. I accept full responsibility for my actions
5. I am active part of a spiritual body
6. I actively live my religion
7. I financially support my religious organization
8. I contribute to other chartible organizations
9. I am a person of integrity
10. I am not afraid to die
How many yes answers?
FAMILY
1. My family is important to me
2. My children and spouse like to be with me
3. Everyone in my family feels comfortable communicating with each other
4. I am actively involved in my children's education
5. We have been on a family outing at least once in the last 60 days
6. My children and spouse feel comfortable inviting their friends to our house
7. I give my spouse the attention he or she deserves
8. I rarely bring home my work problems
9. The rules and values of our family are clearly understood by everyone
10. If I died today, I would die peacefully knowing that I had communicated to my family members that I love them.
How many yes answers?
When you tally up your answers you will probably find that you have areas that are stronger than others. The differences in the six areas illustrate your life balance. Obviously, this is not a scientific picture of your life, nor is it meant to be. This is simply a self assessment of six important areas of your life.
The key to balance in life is the same key to balancing a bicycle: it is much easier to balance if you are moving forward.
If you would like some help to create a plan to create more balance and keep moving forward contact me.
The first step is to look at your scores and determine what is the strongest area of the six you evaluated. Take some time to determine what makes that particular area stronger than the others. If you have more than one strong area, choose the one you like better.
What makes it stronger? Do you put more time into that area? Is this an area for which you have some special talent? Do you put more resources into this area? Is this area just easy and you aren't sure why? If you are wise, ask someone who observes you every day and ask them if they have some insight about your strongest area. An outside perspective can be very helpful.
The key to this step is to figure out what makes you successful in this area and then to apply those insights to other areas.
You'll notice you were not asked to evaluate a weak area. Research shows that working to improve a significant weakness usually results in all of the areas getting weaker rather than the weak area getting stronger. People rarely move from failure to success. More often they move from success to success. Put time and energy into your areas of success and you will find the principles needed to imrprove your less successful areas.
Here is a website I often suggest to my clients that will give you some insights into your character strengths: www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu that website is with the University of Pennsylvania school of psychology. There are a variety of questionnaires you can take there that will give you insights. The one to take for this part of creating life balance is the VIA Suvey of Character Strengths. Researchers identified 24 universal character strengths that are common regardless of race, culture, religion and time. This test will help you identify your strongest to weakest strengths. When you take the test, your top 5 strengths will appear. You can see the rest of the list if you choose. DON'T READ THE REST OF THE LIST!. The tendency is to look at the weakest and feel bad or want to do something to imporove your weakness. Don't do that. Rather, look at your top five and do something every day to improve one of them. The secret to a good life is to do what you do well a lot. Or, as an athletic coach might say, "play to your strengths."
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Have you opened a new location, redesigned your shop, or added a new product or service? Don't keep it to yourself, let folks know.
Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.
If customers can’t find it, it doesn’t exist. Clearly list and describe the services you offer. Also, be sure to showcase a premium service.
Having a big sale, on-site celebrity, or other event? Be sure to announce it so everybody knows and gets excited about it.
Are your customers raving about you on social media? Share their great stories to help turn potential customers into loyal ones.
Running a holiday sale or weekly special? Definitely promote it here to get customers excited about getting a sweet deal.
Have you opened a new location, redesigned your shop, or added a new product or service? Don't keep it to yourself, let folks know.
Customers have questions, you have answers. Display the most frequently asked questions, so everybody benefits.