It it easy to get caught up in the emotions of looking back at the past; however, it is important to remember part of moving forward is taking inventory of where you are now. It’s important because people forget that progress is often not linear – we backslide, we jump forward, and even pivot completely. So this section is dedicated to checking in with where I am today.
If you haven’t read my introduction to what vision day is, read the intro post here.
You can also find the first part of this series, the Vision Day: Past Post Here. It isn’t required to read first, but is the first part of the Vision Day exercise and important to do first if you are following along.
The “Present” portion of this exercise is probably the most straightforward section.
Given ten areas of your life, how do you rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.
- 1 being it is not where you would like it to be at all
- 10 being this area is exceeding all expectations
- Then write a small blurb why you rated it with that score
The areas can also be divided into 3 categories – Health, Wealth, and Relationships.
- Health
- Physical
- Emotional
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Relationships
- Social
- Family
- Intimate
- Sexual (Omitted)
- Wealth
- Financial
- Career
I am going to go category by category, area by area and discuss what I wrote down. You can follow the guided reflection on the Vision Day Replay as well.
At the end of this exercise, you should have a snapshot of how you feel about different areas of your life and some strengths and weaknesses.
Note: I’ve omitted sexual relationships because while I find it important, its deeply personal, so noneya 😛
Here we go!
Health
Physical: 4/10
I have improved my workouts and diet in the latter half of the year, but that hasn’t really played out in visible results. I do not struggle in any of the activities I enjoy. I go on 10+ mile day hikes, I kayak, I dance, and have more energy than a large majority of my friends. I am also in healthy/optimal ranges for all blood tests.
Because of that, I expected that by adding consistent workouts and a better diet that I could also lose weight and look more fit. That wasn’t the case this past year and It makes me feel shitty since I hate working out – I do not get energy or a sense of accomplishment from it whatsoever.
I think I would need to see physical improvement in my body and a lower body fat percentage to raise this score.
Emotional: 4/10
I struggled a lot emotionally this past year. From the stress at work to the loneliness, this past year was definitely defined by turmoil. A lot of this was driven by rumination on M and not being so lucky in the dating department this year.
It would be lower if I didn’t have friends and family to rely on. I think it would be higher if my dating life was a little bit better and I spent more time traveling and doing things I love rather than stressing about work.
Intellectual: 6/10
This suffered a little this year because I was in a job that kept me mostly stagnant. I did gain experience in leading a team and mentoring people though. In the latter half of the year, I refocused on learning more programming and management skills, so that helped the score too.
I think this will improve by learning a new programming paradigm and working on a product or side project outside of normal consulting efforts.
Spiritual: 5/10
I gave up on organized religion a long time ago, so to me, spirituality is linked to personal philosophy, peacefulness, and being “one with the universe”. Yeah, I know, super hippy but whatever 🙂
I expanded my horizons a bit this year by adding some buddhist teachings to my stoic philosophy. I’ve gotten a little bit better in studying stoicism, but not much better in implementing the teachings in day to day life.
My negative emotional health definitely impacted my “connectedness to the universe” and I felt more alone. If I am able to improve emotional health, this will likely follow suit. Meditation and exercises like these may help a bit as well.
Relationships
Social: 7/10
I made some new friends this year and spent time with those that uplifted and energized me. I connected with friends here, abroad, and at home. Overall, I feel very positive about this area of my life.
I didn’t rate myself higher though because I think I have a bit of a friend void when it comes to those who are more into traveling or bootstrap entrepreneurship.
I also think I could benefit by finding friend groups that are a bit more higher energy and extroverted to help fuel expanding my social circle. In many of my friend groups, I am usually the one doing the introductions, and I need to flip that on its head.
Family: 6/10
I spent a lot of time with family this year and pretty happy with the frequency of visits I paid to both South Bay and Visalia.
Over the years we’ve grown apart more, but I wish I was a little more plugged in with my sister and brother, as well as my cousin who I used to be closer with. I also know my emotional health weighed on my family (especially my mom), so that impacted this score a bit too.
I docked myself a bit for not making it out to Phoenix to see my dad too.
Intimate: 1/10
Given that 2017 was mostly recovery from a previous thing and focusing on myself, I came into 2018 ready and willing to find someone new. I met and talked to a few women I found interesting and fun, but it never panned out. Despite focusing a lot of attention on this area in Q1/Q2, it was fruitless and left me a bit disheartened for the rest of the year.
This, coupled with an onslaught of weddings/marriage announcements, left me feeling fearful about my romantic future, especially as I near my last year of a twenty-something. I want to be a dad someday and rather not be the 60 year old at their childrens’ high school graduation.
This is easily my most insecure and painful area.
Wealth
Financial: 6/10
I don’t feel particularly good or bad about my finances at this time. I contributed to my retirement regularly and at a higher rate than previously, but I also racked up a little more debt than usual and my income stayed mostly stagnant.
I would feel more comfortable with more liquid cash in the bank and less debt and a raise, but it’s not bad by any means. I just want to be trending more in a positive direction.
Career: 5/10
My previous job was a bit of a backslide. I felt like it instilled a few bad habits and I spent time without getting much of a self-development return on that time. I did gain friends and mentorship experience, though.
Going back to consulting was the right decision, though I think for this to be higher I would like to increase my income, improve my offering, and find ways to have multiple income streams. I’d like to move away from the simple “money for time” model.
Overall Quality of Life: 5/10
My life is just in a so-so spot at the moment. The amount of effort poured into physical health, emotional health, and intimate relationships didn’t really pay dividends in 2018 and it only made me feel worse when I didn’t see the results I wanted.
A lot of areas of my life were largely stagnant, including areas where I usually perform well with ease such as Career and Financial. I also reduced a lot of activities I enjoyed, such as traveling, and traded in things I felt like I should do, like working out.
Areas that I am happy with were mostly around social and family. Career is on the up too now that I am back to consulting.
Largely the low score is from the poor score in intimate relationships and lack of growth in most other areas. I think by adding back in more travel, refocusing on consulting, and continuing to explore intimate relationships, I can likely raise this score for next year.
Summary
Scores
- Health: 5/10
- Physical: 4/10
- Emotional: 4/10
- Intellectual: 6/10
- Spiritual: 5/10
- Relationships: 4/10
- Social: 7/10
- Family: 6/10
- Intimate: 1/10
- Sexual: Omitted
- Wealth: 6/10
- Financial: 6/10
- Career: 5/10
- Overall Quality of Life: 5/10
Strengths of 2018
- Wealth in general is fine
- Career trending in the correct direction again with consulting and entrepreneurship
- Social ties were good and still improving
Weaknesses of 2018
- Health in general was poor
- Physical health was a big challenge
- Emotional health was impacted by other areas a lot
- Intimate Relationships (or lack thereof) had the biggest negative impact
Other Notes
- Physical health improvement will not impact anything else, though may help intimate relationships
- Improving intimate relationships will likely improve every single area since it created the most stress by far
- More money could help certain areas, but not by much
Conclusion
That’s it for my present year scoring!
Next up, is the future portion where I will write out a bit about what would my ideal world look like in a year from now, then from that, extract a theme.
Check out my next post on Vision Day: Future or if you haven’t yet, my previous post on Vision Day: Past.
Thanks for reading!
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