“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Greek philosopher Socrates more than 2,000 years ago. Wow, that’s a bold statement — “not worth living?”
As I contemplated this proclamation, I thought about the power of awareness and the act of “examining” your life.
The UNEXAMINED life
First, let’s look at the unexamined life. Have you ever gotten to the end of the year and felt like the year just seemed to have slipped through your fingers? Do you sometimes feel like you are just going through the motions day after day, year after year, just living your life?
The reality is that if you are not regularly examining all areas of your life, most likely you are sliding backwards. For example, if you don’t create awareness around your health, you may fall prey to the national average of annual weight gain (5 pounds for men, and 8 pounds for women). That’s more than 50 lbs in 10 years.
Or, if you don’t create awareness around your finances, you can find yourself buried in debt. Of the U.S. household carrying credit card debt, the average debt is $15,609.
Look at your own life. What is your personal cost of unawareness in terms of your health, finances, relationships or personal growth?
The EXAMINED life
So how can you live an examined life? It comes down to three simple steps.
1. Awareness
2. Planning
3. Evaluation
Awareness: Just plain pay attention. Notice what you want, what you don’t want, and what you need to do differently. I’m not talking about that list of a thousand things you thought about doing, being and creating this year in a burst of New Year’s Resolution energy. That list you just as quickly abandoned in a state of overwhelmed disappointment, settling back into just going through the motions each day, but not really LIVING. Instead:
1. Identify what your ideal is (what you value) in the areas of your health, finances, relationships and personal growth. Knowing what your ideal is doesn’t mean to set dozens of goals and overwhelm yourself. Just know what you are shooting for. Let your ideal be like your North Star guiding your decisions.
2. Decide on only 1 or 2 goals to work on each quarter. What area(s) do you want to focus on right now?
Planning: Abraham Lincoln said that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” The way to create the life you want is to intentionally plan.
1. Set aside time to plan each month, each week and each day.
2. Look at your calendar. Do the activities you regularly engage in support what you have determined you value? If you say health is important to you, have you scheduled in time to work out? If you say your family is a top priority, do you block out time for your family in your calendar?
3. Look at your goals and what you have determined you value. Identify what actions need to be taken, then block out time in your schedule to work on these priorities.
Evaluation: You can’t change what you don’t notice.
1. Spend time regularly evaluating what is working and what isn’t working. Your planner and/or journal are great tools for evaluation. They are especially helpful in recognizing patterns of behavior.
2. Decide what you need to do differently.
3. Notice your successes. Often we get discouraged because we only look at the fact that we are so far away from our goal. Celebrate your progress.
Taking the time to truly examine your life is the foundation of success and growth. Generating awareness in your everyday life is the process of knowing yourself — your strengths, your weaknesses, your present limitations, what you want, and what you don’t want. Truly examining your life by paying attention and taking the time to plan and evaluate is what creates a life worth living.
Originally published on The Daily Hearld’s MomClick June 3, 2015
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