The article below builds upon insights taken from Burnett, Bill, & Evans, Dave (2016). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life. Knopf.
Assess your life
How satisfied are you with your current direction in life? Where do you think improvements are possible? According to the writers of ‘Designing your Life’ you could start this exercise by writing a few sentences about how well it’s going in each of the following areas:
- Work: How much do you like your current work conditions (e.g. tasks and level of stress)?
- Play: How satisfied are you with your leisure time (e.g. hobbies, sports, holidays)?
- Relationships: How much do you enjoy your current friends, neighbors and romantic life?
- Health: How would you rate your physical and mental health?
Next, ask yourself if there’s a problem you’d like to tackle in any of these areas. Only select problems where actions on your part can help you to move forward and you are not too dependent on other people or outside forces.
You can also analyze your current work days or weekends. What parts of the day are fulfilling? Why? What parts of the day are unfulfilling? How could you make those sections of the day more fulfilling? What would your perfect day look like? Are there friends, professionals or personal hero’s (artists, entrepreneurs, sportsmen) who’s lifestyles you would like to emulate (e.g. their work/life balance, sleeping habits, how they spend their weekends)?
Go to article 2.3 ‘Study different scenarios of yourself‘.