How National Quality of Life Month Can Improve Your Productivity
National Quality of Life Month is observed every January. Some of these “national holidays” are silly and frivolous. If you look at the entire list, on the one hand you might wonder who has the time to make up all of these observances? On the other hand, you might realize that there are some topics on there that should be revisited at least once per year, so maybe this “national holiday” thing isn’t such a crazy idea.
National Quality of Life Month is one such holiday. But what exactly is “quality of life”?
The website Definitions.net posted this definition from the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
“A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral and social environment; the overall condition of a human life.”
If you read through the literature on quality of life, you’ll understand that we’re not talking about how rich you are, what your income is, what kind of neighborhood you can or can’t afford to live in, etc. Instead, quality of life is about your overall “rating” of your current life situation. In other words, are you currently satisfied with your life’s conditions?
Many clients I’ve worked with haven’t defined what their desired quality of life is, yet they’re stressed out or anxious about not being able to reach their goals. If you haven’t defined what these goals are – what your definition of quality of life is – how do you know whether or not you’ve achieved anything? You might be light years away and need to re-adjust, or you might be exactly where you want to be but don’t even realize it because you don’t know what your target is. Are you imposing unnecessary stress on yourself because you’re not recognizing what’s already in front of you?
If you’ve attended one of my keynotes or trainings or read any of my books, you know that I preach my productivity philosophy that time management is all about mind management. Therefore, anything that affects what’s going on in your brain will affect your productivity. Your “physical, political, moral and social environment” affect how you feel and, therefore, how you think. So, if your current conditions aren’t in alignment with your desired quality of life, your mind will feel bogged down – and your productivity will be lowered.
In my next blog post, I’ll address the political environment because that needs more space! But for now, let’s reflect on your other three life attributes.
Take a few minutes today to define your quality of life.
Given your current economic level,
*what do you want your physical environment at home and work to be like?
*what do you want your moral environment at home and work to be like?
*what do you want your social environment at home and work to be like?
Have you met your expectations? If so, celebrate! If you never take the time to praise yourself for what you accomplish, you’ll never find happiness.
Have you not met your expectations? If so, what steps will you take to reach your goal, your definition…satisfaction, happiness? When will you make these steps happen?
Not being satisfied with our quality of life makes us unhappy. An unhappy brain is a less productive brain. So take a few moments today to examine your current quality of life and either rejoice what you’ve attained – or lay the groundwork that will get you to your quality of life objectives.
