If you've ever been to a mall, you may have been involved in the following scenario. A person with a clipboard has locked their eyes on you. They shout out a pleasantry followed by a plea to fill out their 'survey.' "It will take just a moment," they say as they move in your direction. You look down, speed up and shift lanes. If you had a football, you'd probably score.
Mall marketers aside, questionnaires don't always have to be for the benefit of social science or a scientific endeavor. They can also benefit our lives. Let me explain.
Sometimes we may have a feeling that our life isn't quite where we would like it to be. However, we might not be able to pinpoint the source of our dissatisfaction. All we know is that our level of 'happiness' and enjoyment of life isn't quite right.
A good way to pinpoint this dissatisfaction so we can begin to effectively deal with it is to create a Life Ratings Scale.
Put simply, a Life Ratings Scale requires you to create a list of all areas in your life that you consider important to having a life of quality and enjoyment. Next using a likert-type scale from 0 to 5, with 0 as extremely unsatisfied and 5 being very satisfied, you rate each of the categories.
By using this technique you can gain a very clear picture of where your areas of dissatisfaction lay. Then you can begin to come up with ways to address them.
A sample Life Ratings Scale can be:
Family Life 0 1 2 3 4 5
Health 0 1 2 3 4 5
Finance 0 1 2 3 4 5
Spiritual 0 1 2 3 4 5 (or Religious)
Emotional 0 1 2 3 4 5
Job/Career 0 1 2 3 4 5
Hobby 0 1 2 3 4 5
Friends 0 1 2 3 4 5
Home 0 1 2 3 4 5
City 0 1 2 3 4 5
(Some categories in my own personal Life Ratings Scale are; Writing, Reading and Research.)
Once you create your most important categories and rate them you can break them down further to isolate key areas you would like to target.
For instance, "Finance" could be broken down into:
Income 0 1 2 3 4 5 (Passive)
Income 0 1 2 3 4 5 (Salary)
Savings 0 1 2 3 4 5
Investments 0 1 2 3 4 5
Checking 0 1 2 3 4 5
or
The category "Health" could be broken down into
Weight 0 1 2 3 4 5
Muscularity 0 1 2 3 4 5
Diet 0 1 2 3 4 5
Exercise 0 1 2 3 4 5
By clearly defining regions of dissatisfaction in your life and then isolating exactly what ails you, you can then create a program or make the changes necessary to improve your enjoyment of life. Periodic checks (every month, 3 months, 6 months or year) using the same techniques can let you see your progress.
I created this scale for my usage and it helps me to determine my level of satisfaction in many areas. It is a wonderful tool to help you make any adjustments you feel necessary in your life and I recommend it to all.
Happy Ratings...
Bakari Akil II, Ph.D. is the author of Super You: 101 Ways to Maximize your Potential!
