Do you aspire to a fulfilling and well-balanced life? Then there are ten vital areas of life that you need to focus on and gauge your performance from time to time.
I have adapted ideas in this post from the “High-performance habits” book by Brendon Burchard. (No affiliation, just respect for a great author).
The notion that our lives comprise the body, mind and spirit is easy to understand. These refer to the physical, intellectual and spiritual realms of existence. But other vital areas are necessary for a rewarding and well-balanced life.
The ten areas of life
- Health and Fitness
- Mental and personal growth
- Social connection
- Mission and work (or study)
- Avocation and hobbies
- Adventure and travels
- Finances and investments
- Spirituality
- Emotions
- Contribution and impact
1. Health and fitness
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.
Jim Rohn
Health is always the best start; you must be healthy to achieve your full potential. In what state of health are you? Are you in good health or suffering from chronic pain, other types of illness or cancer? How about your physical fitness? Are you strong and flexible?
According to the prevailing new research, achieving good health is listed below.
- Eating a healthy diet is mainly plant-based, unprocessed, and low in salt and sugar.
- The physical exercise incorporates cardiovascular exercises, stretches and weight training. Please check with your health practitioner before commencing an exercise program.
- Ensuring you enjoy restorative sleep, both in quantity and quality.
- Stress management through intentional avoidance of stressful situations and meditation.
- Refraining from risky substances such as smoking, excessive alcohol and illicit drug use.
Regularly doing the above measures will lower your incidence of certain diseases. These include hypertension, obesity, diabetes and certain cancers. You will also enjoy a body that is strong, trim and flexible. As a result, you will live longer and age better.
2. Mental and personal growth
You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.
Charlie Tremendous Jones
Mental and personal growth lay a solid foundation for advancing to higher levels. Also, growth is evidence of life, so we are not fully living if we are not growing yearly.
As children, we had our heights measured before starting primary school. As adults, we mark time through chronological age, facial wrinkles and grey hair. But there are other ways to measure our mental and personal growth. We can recognise our transition by expanding knowledge, wisdom and empathy.
We can grow as individuals by reading great books, attending seminars, networking with others, and engaging the services of mentors and personal coaches.
3. Social connection
The basis of social relationships is reciprocity: if you cooperate with others, others will cooperate with you.
Carroll Quigley
Research shows that engaging in social connections is very beneficial. Connecting with others will improve our physical health, psychological well-being, and longevity. Conversely, a lack of social connection harms our health, such as smoking.
As humans, we are all wired for social connections. But we know that loneliness is rising, particularly among young people. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened outcomes for social engagement worldwide.
There are three tiers of relationships I am referring to here.
- The intimate relationship with your spouse or significant other.
- Family relationships, bearing in mind that families come in many shapes and sizes. Be that nuclear, blended, or extended.
- Your friends and immediate community can also provide robust social support.
To curb loneliness
- Reduce your social media use and seek better human-to-human interactions. For example, you can connect with others through group activities or volunteering.
- Eating well, exercising and prioritising our sleep boost our self-efficacy.
- Seeking expert help when needed, for instance, if we become depressed.
4. Mission and work
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) where you are going.
Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:10
Work gives us a sense of purpose and fulfilment. For most people, work also provides the finances to fund the other areas of life. Therefore, it is essential to approach our daily work with enthusiasm. Each of us needs a mission statement to ensure that our work aligns well with our principal life purpose.
5. Avocation and hobbies
Hobbies are great distractions from the worries and troubles that plague daily living. To be happy in life, develop at least four hobbies: one to bring you money, one to keep you healthy, one to bring you joy, and one to bring you peace.
Bill Malone.
We need to find hobbies that we love and practice them frequently. Hobbies energise us and help us to develop our top talents. We may even establish a sidekick and passive income from our hobbies.
6. Adventure and travels
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
Saint Augustine
We need to unplug from our work time to recharge our batteries. The proverb states, “all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”.
7. Finances and investments
It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.
George Lorimer
The three crucial components of a sound financial education include:
- Savings: always spend less than you earn.
- Investments: buy assets that will yield passive income.
- Insurance: protect your essential assets from unforeseen damaging events.
8. Spirituality
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
There are many definitions of spirituality. For some, it is the connection to a higher power, spirit, or nature. For others, it is the attainment of inner peace and cheerfulness. Most people pursue spirituality through participation in churches, mosques, temples or other places of worship. You can also incorporate prayer and meditation into your morning routines.
9. Emotions
Actions seem to follow feeling, but really actions and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.
William James
Emotional intelligence is all about regulating our emotions and adapting to the feelings of others. Therefore, we need to harness our positive emotions of laughter, joy, peace, anticipation, surprise, and love. At the same time, we should aim to control our negative feelings of anger, fear and disgust.
10. Contribution and impact
No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.
George Washington Carver
Contribution and impact refer to our giving back to society. We do this through charitable, philanthropic or volunteer work.
The wheel of life
Imagine that your life is a wheel containing ten spokes, each representing the areas of life. You can give each area of life a score from 1-10. To live a fulfilling life, you should not focus all your energies on a few spots and neglect other aspects. So, how balanced is your wheel of life?
To Recap
Our lives comprise more than the body, mind and spirit. We also need a good social connection, be adventurous, look after our finances and emotions and give back to society.
Focusing on essential areas helps us to achieve an excellent work-life balance. That will ensure that we have a fulfilled and well-balanced life.
Which of the areas of your life do you need more attention to?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Please leave your comments below, or let’s continue the discussion on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin.
Thanks for your time.
Leave a Reply