CHAPTER 4

Step 2: Set Priorities

Everyone would like to be the perfect worker, family member, physical specimen and model of mental health and serenity every single day. But in reality, time constraints force us to choose areas of emphasis, and do our imperfect best to improve, bit by bit.

PART 1 What Are Your Hot Spots?

You Try It

Well-being Across the Population

When do you feel unhappy or most agitated? Maybe it is when you are headed to work in the morning. Maybe it's when you have to leave the job you love at the end of the day and be alone. Or is it when you are fighting a futile battle to get a good night's sleep? Start making a list of the moments that are most challenging to your physical or emotional state, with the events that give you the hardest time at the top. READ MORE

To plan a mission to improve your health, start with the biggest challenge first. The specifics of your plan can come later. Identifying the hierarchy of interventions that could improve your life will help your mission take shape and direction. LESS

PART 2 What Are Your Sweet Spots?

The flip side of your life equation are the areas you wouldn't change for any reason. What gives you joy? Spending time with your family on the weekends might do it, or meeting with members of a club or community that you especially enjoy. Running five miles could be the highlight of your day. Identify your best times, and list those, too. READ MORE

It's easy to identify what is working well in your life. But it's a mistake to think of these aspects of life as items you can check off the list and not think about. Quite the opposite: Your fulfilling experiences deserve special focus. Appreciating the sweet spots in your life can be a source of strength as you embark on the difficult mission of changing your habits to improve the quality of your life. LESS

PART 3 A Balanced Approach

Your goal is to improve aspects of your life you find lacking while reinforcing the things that are working well for you. Ensuring that you are part of a community that matters to you, or that your stress over financial obligations isn't derailing your happiness is just as important as keeping tabs on your physical health. In the short term, such concerns have an impact on your daily happiness. In the long term, such stressors do show up in your physical well-being. READ MORE

The Gallup organization found that those who rate their physical, financial, career, community and social well-being high overall had fewer sick days than those who rate their life satisfaction lower. At the lower end of the scale, respondents had 12 sick days per year. Those who scored highest had one or zero sick days annually. LESS

Photo credit for piggybank: Alan Cleaver
Photo credit for breast cancer walkers: Robert Neff