Here’s a pop quiz. Which of the following statements are true for you?
- I like most aspects of my personality.
- I have several warm and trusting relationships.
- I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to others.
- I am good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life.
- Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.
- It’s important to have new experiences that challenge how I think about myself and the world.
These six statements represent six key dimensions of psychological well-being; that is, how good you feel about yourself and your life. I’m sure you’ll agree that your sense of well-being profoundly influences how you perform in every area of your life, especially work and creative pursuits. With that in mind, here are six ways to increase your well-being, love your life, and in turn, create more positive energy to do great work.
1. Cultivate Self-Acceptance
- You have a positive attitude toward yourself and accept yourself as you are.
- You acknowledge and embrace multiple aspects of yourself, including those qualities that may be viewed as faults or weaknesses.
- You feel positive about your past life experiences and harbor little, if any regret.
2. Cultivate Positive Relations With Others
- You have warm, satisfying and trusting relationships with others.
- You are generally concerned about the welfare of others, and you’re capable of strong empathy, affection, and intimacy.
- You understand the give and take nature of human relationships.
3. Cultivate Autonomy
- You are self-determining and independent.
- You’re able to resist social pressures to think and act in certain ways, and you regulate your behavior from within.
- You evaluate yourself by personal standards you’ve set for yourself rather than those set by people in your life, the media and society in general.
- In the words of Deepak Chopra, your are totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.
4. Master Your Environment
- You have a sense of mastery and competence in managing your external environment.
- You are adept at managing the many responsibilities of daily life.
- You notice and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
5. Cultivate Purpose in Your Life
- You have goals and objectives for your life.
- You feel a sense of purpose and direction in your life.
- You feel there is meaning to your present and past experiences.
- You hold beliefs that give your life purpose and meaning.
6. Practice Personal Growth
- You have a feeling of continued development and see yourself as growing and learning more each day.
- You are open to new experiences, and you have a sense of realizing your potential.
- You see improvement in yourself and your behavior over time.
- In general, you are growing and changing in ways that reflect greater self-knowledge and personal effectiveness.
Take Your Pick and Get To Work
If you’re doing well in each area, great for you. If not, now’s a good time to launch your own self-improvement plan. You don’t have to tackle all the areas at once. Just shoot for improvement in one area for now. There will be time to work on the others later. If you’re not sure where to start, contact me here, and I’ll help you take the first step.
Hello Michael Pollack How are you? I loved this article. I also loved the other one wherecthe first sentence starts out We are powerful beyond messager for it isnt darkness that we are afraid of. Love that quote. T is that artocle that brought me to this one. I now love what I see. My habits. However dont match what I see. I have to right a informal proposal. I feel overwhelmed about it, I have never written one before. Did research on it that had me spinning. Wow. And having to tackle the stuff in my daily life. IYO here should I start. Thanks for talking the time to read this Michael Pollack. Question how did you end up blogging, writing. (Curious)
Kayla M (an admirer of your articles)
Hi Kayla. Thanks for the kind words. I don’t really know enough about the situation to suggest exactly where you should start with the proposal. Sorry.
It sounds like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to get it right though, so maybe start there. If it’s that important, maybe you should seek assistance from a trained professional. If it’s a business-related proposal, maybe you have a local Small Business Administration (or similar organization) where you can get some free or low-cost advice.
i don’t know from where to start but the main fact is that i’m lagging in all the above statement. Most difficult is that i have no confidence in my own being and these affecting me to set my goal.
Hi Sunny. First, thanks so much for leaving a comment. Just by taking that action, I get the sense that you’re committed to improving yourself and your life. Never let go of that desire – that drive – to be better than you were yesterday, and combine it with the belief that you CAN become a better version of yourself. Cultivate the belief that you CAN create a bigger life for yourself if you will just continue working at it.
At the same time, I believe it’s critical to cultivate self-acceptance, which is why I placed that as #1 in the list above. Those may seem like conflicting ideas, but to me, it’s the essence of life – complete acceptance of who you are right now, combined with the drive to improve.
You are perfect just as you are right now AND you can always be better.
Can you hold these two ideas at the same time, even though they may seem to contradict each other?
If so, what does this open up for you?
If not, what prevents you from doing so?