Use this tool to see if you are balanced across the six important areas of life.
About the Life Balance Diagnostic
Some people lose sight of the important areas of their lives by putting too much effort into one or two aspects, to the detriment of others. This diagnostic tool demonstrates the need to achieve balance in your life. We find that this tool can have significant impact on a lot of people, particularly middle-aged business executives. They know immediately that life balance is an issue for them. Relationships at home are a problem, fitness is reducing, and stress is increasing. This tool can be used to address all of these issues.
What is Life Balance?
Many people regard financial success as the ultimate personal success key performance measure. We hold the six areas of life shown below as equally important. There is no point in having financial success without having success in the other areas.
With the pace of life ever increasing, we find less time for what's really important to us. You have responsibility to your family, workplace, community, school, sport, or social activities and they all compete for your attention.
The key is to invest the same amount of time and energy into all six areas. A common question asked when looking at the life balance tool is "Where is work?" In this case, work is part of the vehicle that we are using to generate the resources for the six areas.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: The six areas we use are Family, Health, Mental, Philosophy, Finance, and Social as defined below. This is not the only way you can segment a life, but it seems to appeal to most people.
Family: Do you provide high value to all family members?
Health: How much exercise are you doing?
Mental: What developmental activities are you undertaking (education, training, etc.)?
Philosophy: Do you have a set of core values?
Finance: Do you pay your bills on time? Are you financially secure?
Social: How much time do you have for relaxation?
Step 2: For each of the six areas, ask "How well am I performing?" in that area. For example, if you're looking at 'Health,' ask the question, "How satisfied am I with my health?" What score would you give it out of 10, where 0 is poor and 10 is great?
Step 3: Enter in the scored areas here. The result is a picture of your life balance.
Step 4: What does your picture look like? Is it balanced? Which areas do you need to work on? What activities do you need to undertake to improve your score?
Step 5: Identify your ideal score on each segment and ask what you need to do to get your life into balance. Remember, we are aiming for balance, not a perfect 10. The ideal score should be equal for each of the segments.
Step 6: Finally, develop action plans to improve the score in each key segment and enter them here. Upon developing your activities, share this plan with a family member or trusted relationship to hold yourself accountable.
For questions about how to use this diagnostic or assistance with evaluating the results, please contact Robert S. Olszewski, Director at Kreischer Miller and a specialist with the Center for Private Company Excellence, at 215.441.4600 or Email.