Know where you are before you start
Written By Sherry Fernandez
There are a number of reasons I am grateful for cell phones, but one of the biggest is that I get lost easily, which is a gentle assessment of my problem.
I have lived in the same city for over forty years, and I still find myself lost and reaching for my cell phone for help.
The problem isn’t that I don’t know where I want to go. The problem is that I don’t know where I am.
Once I figure out where I am, I can find my way.
It is very difficult to successfully arrive at a destination if you are not clear about where you are when you start. The first step in establishing a program of personal progress is to take an assessment of your life. An honest assessment of your current condition will give you a clearer picture of where you are and the reality of what you are doing, as opposed to what you think you are doing. But it is a tricky thing to do. For one thing it can be difficult to see ourselves clearly. Richard P. Feynman said,
““The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.””
For example, a client will tell me how important their family is and because they truly love their family, they might tell me it is a strong area of Life Mastery for them.
When we look at how much time they spend working on those relationships, in comparison to work or hobbies, they realize they are not making family the priority they think they are.
Often people they will describe themselves as someone who works out regularly but when they began to track their workouts they find they are hitting the gym less frequently then they realized.
You cannot successfully move forward until you see clearly where you are.
Another obstacle to a clear evaluation of ourselves is the idea we are simply coasting in one area or another.
If we are coasting we are coasting downhill. As you assess your life, remember there is no status quo. There is, in fact, no status quo in the universe. Everything is growing or dying. You are getting better, or you are losing ground.
Every moment of your existence, you are growing into more or withering into less.
Your relationships are growing, or they are dying.
Your body is getting stronger or weaker.
You are getting richer or poorer.
You are growing spiritually or losing sight of your spiritual self.
You are becoming more educated or less.
No status quo!
Assessing your current situation is critical and harder to do than you might think without some help.
Remember, it is easy to fool yourself, so be as objective as you can.
There is no need to share with anyone the fact that you are assessing life, but you could ask a few people who are close to you how they think you are doing in certain areas, and how you might improve.
Unfortunately, some people will tell you what you want to hear, while others, when it comes to brutal honesty, take more joy in the brutality than they do in the honesty, so be sure to ask people who will be honest with you but have your best interest at heart.
One of my favorite all-time projects is the development of the Life Mastery Personal Assessment. I have used this assessment with clients for several years, I use it in workshops, I use it for myself and I would like to share it with you.
It is a free download. Make sure that after you answer the questions, you plot them on the wheel graph at the end of the assessment.
There are people who tend to be pretty lenient with themselves when they answer the questions and others who are hard on themselves.
Neither approach is wrong.
Be more concerned about how round your wheel is rather than how big it is. The “flat tire” areas will indicate where more work needs to be done.
Life is always in flux, and perfect balance is impossible, but avoid the condition Jim Rohn was referring to when he said,
““Life without balance can cost you your relationships. Life without balance can cost you your health. Life without balance can cost you your spirituality. Life without balance can cost you your wealth and your happiness. So find things to motivate you from all areas of life. Your success depends on it.””