Sarah Arnold-Hall

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Weekly Life Assessments

One of my favourite activities to do every week is to assess the main areas of my life by rating them 1-10 (1 = non-existent, 10 = reaching my full potential). Each Sunday, I assess how I’m feeling in each of the categories, and then over time, I can see my progress.

The categories I rate are:

  • Health (mental & physical).

  • Love (relationship/self love)

  • Family and Friends

  • Hobbies

  • Spirit

  • Mission/Career

I use a trick I learned (I think it was originally from Tim Ferris, thanks Tim!) – rate from 1-10, but don’t use 7.

7 feels good enough. 6 isn’t quite good enough, we know that, and 8 is great, we’re happy with an 8, right?

So 7 is a cop out. When we label something a 7, it flies under the radar, and it doesn’t receive attention. It’s not exceptional, we most certainly aren’t living our most fulfilled lives at a 7, but it’s not bad enough to require immediate attention. By forcing ourselves to choose whether it’s great (8) or not quite good enough (6), we can make sure every area of our life gets the attention it deserves.

Once I’ve rated each category from 1 to 10, I look at the categories I rated the lowest, and think of one way I can boost it in the coming week.

For example:

This week, I rated:

  • Health = 8 (I hit 50 push ups! I’ve also been eating healthily, and I’ve been following a new rule: salad at every dinner!)

  • Love = 9 (Been spending great quality time with my partner – it’s been a blissful time)

  • Family & Friends = 8 (I’ve skyped my Mum, my Grandma, my sister, and one of my cousins this week, which is a lot more connection than usual, and it felt great!)

  • Hobbies = 4 (I haven’t been focused at all on my hobbies recently. I love to dance and I’ve been neglecting it a lot)

  • Spirit = 8 (I’m feeling vitally alive and passionate at the moment. I’ve been especially true to myself recently)

  • Mission/Career = 8 (I’ve been posting weekly videos, coaching in my mastermind, getting coached myself and been working towards a podcast!)

Although hobbies are low, the area I most want to work on at the moment is health (it would have been a 7 but I had to choose, and it’s not a 6).

This is even more rewarding with a friend, so i usually do it with my boyfriend, and we hold each other accountable for taking action to increase our fulfilment in the area we chose that week. After doing the assessment together today, my boyfriend and I decided today that we are going to do a challenge: 90 days to get in the best health of our lives.

  • Sleep by 12am (to get 8 hours every night)

  • 30 minutes of cardio every day

  • Stretching/push ups/squats/abs daily

  • Meditation daily (I already do this, so extending the length to 20 minutes always)

  • Nutrition (following the Daily Dozen recommendations)

Let me know if you try weekly assessments!