It is often helpful to come up with tools and devices to help one remember important things.
In all my research and self discovery through the journey of happiness and fulfillment in life, I found several things which seem to connect together, things that were important factors to really getting your life in order.
After some time putting my thoughts together on these things I came up with a process to getting your BEST life that I think will work really well, and I created a visual aid to help myself and others remember these important steps, I call it the Life Mastery Wheel.
Here it is:
So what does this all mean?
Well in my mind (again, I know that everybody is different and may have their own way to success and fulfillment) there are certain factors that we need to get straight in order to first make sense of our lives, then live to the fullest.
These are:
Central Factors
- Laughter
- Social Support
Motivating Factors
- Purpose
- Story
- Choice
- Programming
- Small Steps
- Mastery
And what does this all mean? Let me explain.
Central Factors are things we all need in our lives all the time in order to make success easier and our live generally more fulfilling.
Laughter to me represents unconditional joy and happiness, really allowing yourself to be happy all the time and laugh for no reason.
Social Support, I am discovering is another important factor. As it turns out we all need and indeed thrive when we have others around to support us and be a positive influence.
Motivating Factors are those things that are needed in order for us to really move forward and achieve our goals and dreams, whatever they may be.
Purpose I talked a lot about in my last post and indeed it is the first thing one needs to discover in order to live their best life. Some people instinctively know their purpose, in fact we probably all “know” as some level what it is. But firmly identifying it is a really powerful way to set your “life compass” to fulfillment and success.
Story is the next step. Once you know your purpose you need to start telling yourself the right story about your life that resonates with truth and action. We all tell ourselves stories, and getting yours straight early on means you’ve got a really powerful tool to move forward.
Choice is something we are always doing, but I put it after story, because once you know your purpose and story, you can really start to make powerful choices that allign with who you really are.
Programming is needed because sometimes we make a choice (lets say to start working out to lose weight) but we have trouble sticking with it. If we have our purpose and story straight, this will help, but we need more than that. We need to program this new “chosen” behaviour into our lives in order for it to really stick and make a difference.
Small Steps – I was unsure if I should put this in, but I think it needs to be said. I love the show Extreme Makeover – Home Edition because it’s a really great way to help people, but it sends (actually it’s just reinforcing) a message to people that can get them into trouble – that meaningful change happens in big ways. This is NOT TRUE! Yes, if you happen to win the lottery or get a new house given to you, that can really affect your life, but for the rest of us, meaningful change happens SLOWLY in small steps we program into our lives. That is why this step is so important, because to really get ahead you need to do things incrementally, one thing at a time, or chances are you’ll not have the foundation you need to really “Master” that area of life.
Mastery is the final stage where you have mastered all the “basics” of something and are now working diligently to keep bettering yourself in that area. As Dan Pink says in his book DRIVE, you can never really achieve full mastery, only approach it and keep practicing and working at it, constantly bettering yourself. They day you think you know it all is the day you’ve stopped growing as a person.
So this exceptionally long post is my way of introducing this concept of the Life Mastery Wheel. Now I need to start living it and see if it needs any adjustment.
Until the next time, keep laughing and living your best life!