Measure your Wellbeing. Which of the 5 areas do you need to improve most?

Last week my wife and I participated in the annual health screening offered by my company's wellness partner. These are a good annual gauge on whether I'm gaining/losing weight, how my blood pressure and cholesterol are doing, and what my risk is for common health threats. I try to do an annual physical with my physician as well, and occasionally I find myself stepping on the scale at LifeTime Fitness where I workout. These positive activities are commonplace.

Similarly, I find myself pulling up my Mint app on my iPhone to get a daily read on my net worth, keep an eye on credit/checking transactions, and making sure no fradulent charges were made on any of my accounts. It's a good way to keep myself grounded.

Following these steps on a regular basis keeps my physical and financial health in check and afford me the opportunity to refocus on the big picture of where I'm heading in life. However, these do not make up the entirety of my life. There are other factors that go into my overall quality of life...or as some label this: Wellbeing. 

In fact, there are five areas of wellbeing that deserve equal attention. While it would be difficult to focus on all five, all the time, the occasional checkup is needed in these areas. For years I would sWellet annual career goals, or look for ways to be more active in the community, but I never had a gauge to track my success on an ongoing basis.

This summer, Gallup released a revolutionary tool that has really changed the way I evaluate my life on an ongoing basis. It's called the Wellbeing Finder (http://www.wbfinder.com/home.aspx). By answering a set of questions about my life on a recurring basis, I'm given a gauge on the five key areas of wellbeing. Those areas are Social, Physical, Financial, Community and Career. I like to think that my spiritual wellbeing is present in all 5 areas and that is a topic for another day. However, these five areas give me a great holistic view of my life and where I'm heading. Pick up the Wellbeing book and use the code for the online assessment. It let's you repeat the assessment as often as you'd like and set action plans and reminders in each area.

One key finding for me is the huge impact that my social netwok plays on my Wellbeing. The more friends I have that use this tool, the more insight I can gain about the impact of social networks on my overall Wellbeing. Right now I have a small handful who have used this assessment and it has opened up great dialogue about how we can enhance the quality of each other's lives. I hope you'll join the dialogue.