Capstone Marketing Blog, Self-Improvement

The Five Essential Elements of Wellbeing

To construct a comprehensive measure of individual wellbeing, Gallup designed an assessment composed of the best questions they have asked over the last 50 years. To create this assessment, the Wellbeing Finder, hundreds of questions were tested across countries, languages, and vastly different life situations.

Upon completion of the research, five distinct statistical factors emerged. These are the universal elements of wellbeing that differentiate a thriving life from one spent suffering. They describe aspects of our lives that we can do something about and that are important to people in every situation we studied.

The Elements
These elements are the currency of a life that matters. They do not include every nuance of what’s important in life, but they do represent five broad categories that are essential to most people.

The first element is about how you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day: your Career Wellbeing.

The second element is about having strong relationships and love in your life: your Social Wellbeing.

The third element is about effectively managing your economic life: your Financial Wellbeing.

The fourth element is about having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis: your Physical Wellbeing.

The fifth element is about the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live: your Community Wellbeing.

While 66% of people are doing well in at least one of these areas, just 7% are thriving in all five. If we’re struggling in any one of these domains, as most of us are, it damages our wellbeing and wears on our daily life. When we strengthen our wellbeing in any of these areas, we will have better days, months, and decades. But we’re not getting the most out of our lives unless we’re living effectively in all five.

Although these elements are universal across faiths, cultures, and nationalities, people take different paths to increasing their individual wellbeing. For many people, spirituality drives them in all these areas. Their faith is the most important facet of their lives, and it is the foundation of their daily efforts. For others, a deep mission, such as protecting the environment, inspires them each day. While the things that motivate us differ greatly from one person to the next, the outcomes do not.

To learn more read Well Being by Tom Rath (author of How Full is Your Bucket?) and Jim Harter, Ph.D. (co-author of 12: The Elements of Great Managing).

Self-Improvement

People Are Paid to Do That

I was traveling back home after visiting family for Christmas headed to the baggage claim at Norfolk International Airport. While riding the moving walkway and talking on his cell phone an airline crew member dropped his newspaper. I called to him to let him know but he didn’t seem to care. I picked up the newspaper and gave it back to him. Still talking on his cell phone he said to me, “People are paid to do that.” Clearly, he was fine with leaving his garbage on the ground for someone else to clean up. Can you imagine if the newspaper was left on the moving walkway, rolling off onto the ground, to be trampled by thousands of people? I was so disappointed in his attitude.

As the New Year approaches let’s make 2009 the year in which we are the doers, not those that expect things done for them. Let’s examine how our actions affect others and how we can have a positive impact on our world. Let’s be accountable. I know that many of you already exhibit these qualities; I always think there is room for improvement.

Happy New Year!