The system Part 3

Living in the Bucket

The System Part3

In my previous post, I gave an overview of the concept of Roles as a way to compartmentalize how you prioritize the use of your resources in your quest for self-fulfillment.   This post (the final of three) will round out that discussion with the introduction of the concept of Arenas and also a worksheet that you can use to tie it all together.

Arenas, the backdrop for Activities

Our existence is not lived out in a vacuum.  We perform our Activities and Roles in a number of environments  which I am going to call Arenas. 

 In order to make this clearer, I am going to use a tool provided by Ms. Carol Anderson and her company, Money Quotient, a Financial Life Coaching firm in Portland, Oregon.

 

 

You will note that The Wheel of Life has nine categories (or Arenas) in which you can act out your Roles and Activities.  Try to think how you might apply your Roles in each on these Arenas.  Perhaps, you might think of new Activities through this process.  You might also rate your degree of satisfaction with your Arena participation on the "spokes" of the wheel, from Unsatisfied (zero being the hub) to Very Satisfied (ten being the rim).

 

Putting it all together

The worksheet below is designed to help you combine all of these concepts.   Start with the Role.  Identify what Arenas in which you can play that Role and specify what Activities you can achieve.   Decide if it is a Vigor Activity or not (to help with planned frequency).   Then, set a frequency (weekly, monthly, etc.) and, at your ninety-day review, check off if you accomplished them or not.  If not, re-evaluate the activity and either carry it forward to the next worksheet or eliminate it.

 

 

Role	Arena	Activity	Vigor (Y/N?)	Frequency	Accomplished (Y/N?)	Carry Forward (Y/N?)

 

 

 

 

The Final Product

You have now accomplished what I, in my years of advising, have found to be the single most important step towards leading a balanced and fulfilling life, a Goal List.  It’s now a simple matter of arranging your resources and making decisions on their allocation by straightforwardly asking yourself the question:

“Does this action support the Activities I have set for myself?”

If you can’t answer yes, then you should pass on expending resources (time, money, energy, etc.) on that action.  This process alone will produce significant change by making you more efficient.

Now that you have the basics in hand, it is my intention to post monthly examples of how this System works in my daily experience.  Perhaps you may want to share your experiences as well.  There is a place to post discussion on this blog page.

That’s all for this month.  Until next time, I wish you fulfillment.

 

Bob