7/26/2013–Before beginning vacation, I finished a book called Well Being. According to the author, the five areas of well-being are:
- Career
- Social
- Financial
- Physical
- Community
So cheesy. Throughout most of the book it seemed like a feel-good manual, in general vague and not actionable. Then I got to the end and saw the data. If I ever come across another book which mentions the Gallup org. as a main contributor, I know to trust it. First, Break All The Rules was also based on a Gallup study. Nobody does it better–both books described the decades of research and thousands of interviewees studied. So, the book is valid. Career well-being was the most effective area on which to focus. I’d say I’m @ 70%. Satisfied, not highly satisfied. I don’t feel like I get to use my strengths as often as I should. That’s one of the 3/10 I’m missing. The other 20% is the lack of balance or I guess “well-being”. I am pretty comfortable financially, until I start school, that is. My physical well-being is not full, though I’m healthy; 8/10. I need to play soccer regularly for that. Community well-being is non-existent and I can’t do anything regularly as my schedule changes at random. I’d still like to invest more time in the other areas anyway. Lastly, social well-being is probably @ 5/10. I see some family regularly, some friends occasionally, and don’t date often.
So I’ll need to force a change in daily routine. I’m investing too much time in one area at the expense of others. It’s work 1-midnight, family 12:30-2:30 am, up at 10 am. Music 10-11 am, academic study 11-12 pm. Get ready for work 12-1 pm. That’s if I don’t open, have no meetings, am not writing the schedule, and it’s not Sunday (brunch) or Fri/Sat when we’re open late. Oh, and that’s w/out any working on projects or new ideas/systems–my favorite and my strengths. I believe this would be different in either of 2 scenarios. I could go to school, which would surely cause a major shift from night-owl to early-bird. I’d have much more time that isn’t required to be spent at a specific location and held hostage. The specifics of class times/days I don’t know yet. But 8-4 is what I predict. Suppose it is. Wake up @ 7, class 8-4. Eat/cook @ 5 til 7. Music 7-8, family 8-10, friends 10-12. Full time for 5/6 things I need. This assumes no homework/job. Still, it’s 9 hours I can schedule. Same goes for a different job. Wake up @ 8, work 9-5, eat/cook 6-8, family 8-10, music/academic 10-11, friends 11-1 am. Both scenarios don’t reflect the probably eating/cooking with friends or family, which gives more time.
The underlying impetus is my desire to do these things while I can. It might turn out to put me way back career-wise and/or financially. And I’ll be making the decision based on my current analysis of what I think will make me happy. I see in one situation (today) a lack of balance and in the other–school/other job–the probability of it. And again, within the realm of work, it would be in search of a better fit as well. So I have a reason to make a change based on career well-being, social well-being, physical well-being, and due to more free time, community well-being. My financial well-being will decline, at first. But perhaps I find work at which I excel. Perhaps not, but I’ll of course burn no bridges. I refuse to not constantly evaluate my situation, and avoid change for the sake of change, at the same time.
QOTW: “PETA people are stupid, and I can prove it.” –Cassandra
?FNW: What did I miss on vacation? Nothing different.
10/14/2017 review: The most valuable thought is the last–to constantly re-evaluate your situation while avoiding change for the sake of change. The caveat is to make sure the constant re-evaluation doesn’t get in the way of resting and having fun. In other words, re-evaluate where you’re spending time to make sure you’re taking enough time to relax.