When you want to make improvements to your life, it’s tempting to focus on one thing. For good reason. When you achieve a significant goal, your life often takes a big step forward. What’s more, you find yourself in a whole new space, which in itself can open doors and create fresh opportunities.
But this approach comes with a risk.
If working on one area of your life means you drop the ball elsewhere, things can get wonky! Is it really enough to be crushing it in your business or your career if your relationships are failing and your health is suffering?
Enter work-life harmony.
The concept that lasting happiness and fulfillment comes from finding success in all the areas of your life that matter to you. Work-life harmony is subtly different to work-life balance. When you lead a busy life and have multiple demands pulling on you, it’s hard to juggle it all - all of the time. Sometimes your work has to get the lion’s share of your time. Other times you have to take a step back and focus fully on your wellbeing.
Work-life harmony is about allowing the pendulum to swing towards specific areas of your life - at the speed and pace your circumstances demand.
Best of all, it’s a metric you can measure so you can track how your life changes over time.
Why quantify work-life harmony?
Work-life harmony is a personal thing. What represents harmony to one person is different from someone else. What’s more, our personal definitions change over time as our circumstances evolve. For example, when you first start a business you’ll want to go all in. When you become a parent, family time becomes a sharper focus.
The key is to ensure you’re happy with the place you’re at - and if you’re not, that you know what you need to change to feel better about your life.
This is where quantifying your work-life harmony can be so useful for anyone on a personal development journey.
Your score creates a baseline - a start point… your line in the sand.
It allows you to pinpoint where you are right now - so you can decide where to focus and check back in to monitor your progress.
With a baseline in place, you can double-down on your efforts knowing they will drive you forward. Even better, you can see tangible progress over time [which gives you a motivational boost in itself].
Easier goal setting
A lot of people find it hard to set a goal. They don’t know what to pick or they have too many options to choose from. When you lack clarity it’s a lot harder to take focused action. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up doing nothing.
But when you know where you’re at in different areas of your life, it’s a lot easier to pin down the actions that will make the biggest difference.
Remember… even though we’re talking about different life areas, they all interlink and influence each other. They’re not really separate. For example, your mindfulness levels will influence your relationships, which in turn impact how you show up in work/business. In short, don’t be surprised if the right focus on one specific aspect of your life has an exponential impact on everything.
When you quantify your work-life harmony, you’ll know where to place your attention.
How to score work-life harmony
Its super easy to calculate a meaningful score that will empower you to take action - here’s how…
STEP 1: Identify the life areas that are important to you.
We recommend six:
- Health & fitness - how do you feel in your body? This includes exercise, diet, and energy levels.
- Work & career - how fulfilled and successful do you feel in the work that you do?
- Social & relationships - who’s in your circle? How fulfilling are your friendships? How satisfied are you with your social time?
- Mindfulness - this includes your stress and anxiety levels along with your mental clarity and ability to create calm even in chaos.
- Finance - how secure are you with your money and do you have what you need to live the life you want?
- Home & family - how is your home environment and how fulfilled are you in your closest and intimate relationships?
STEP 2: Score each area.
On a scale of 1-10 [where 1 is terrible and 10 is incredible], how do you score each area of your life?
It will help to pull out a notebook and explain your scores. Not only is this a useful reference point, but it will help you get clarity on your next steps.
STEP 3: Calculate your average
Divide your total score by six to give you an average.
A ten is the perfect score [and also a ‘perfect’ life!]
STEP 4: Revisit every three months
With your score calculated, here’s what you can do next:
- Look at the areas of your life where you’ve scored low. What could you start doing to increase your satisfaction in that area?
- What are you doing in your life that’s detracting from your score? What could you stop doing?
- How could you plan your time to achieve work-life harmony?
Whatever you decide, plan to make it happen. [The Self Journal or Self Planner will help].
Finally, revisit your score every three months and keep a track of your progress. It’s a super simple step that will help you think bigger and achieve more while you enjoy today.
This free interactive scorecard helps you rate six areas of your life — career, health, relationships, personal growth, finances, and rest — and shows you a visual breakdown of where you're thriving and where you're out of balance. No download or sign-up needed.
