10 Minute Life Change
/What if I told you that you could change your life in less than 10 minutes a week? Would you believe me? Probably not.
But guess what, I can. And I know I can, because I do it ALL THE TIME!
Seriously.
And the best part about it is that not only does it take less than 10 minutes, but it doesn’t take a lot of work either. All you need is a pen, a notepad, and at least 10 minutes of quiet to reflect.
So now you’re probably curious. You may still be skeptical (which is fine), but you’re curious. “What is this thing that takes less than 10 minutes a week and will change my life, Erin?”
A weekly evaluation.
I know, it sounds super boring, but stick with me here. Every Wednesday I sit down with my notepad and a pen, and I evaluate different areas of my life on a scale of 1-10. I try to just focus on the previous week and after giving each area a number, I write down something I want to do to either keep the number where it was, or improve the number the following week.
For example, one week I might have a 9 in the “friend” category, but the next week have a 3. Either way, I make a goal for the following week. On the week following the 9, I know there’s a good chance my number will go down- so maybe my goal will be to text a friend I haven’t talked to for a while to check-in. The week after the 3, I’ll make a goal to get that 3 up higher the following week. Maybe I’ll schedule a phone date with one of my out of town besties, or a lunch date with a girlfriend in town. After the phone or lunch date my number would be back up at an 8 or 9 again. So as you can see, it’s common for numbers to bounce around.
Example: Friends- 3. Schedule a phone date for this week
Friends- 9. Text ___ to check in
Sometimes, if my numbers are in the 8 or 9 range, my goal is to just keep doing what I was doing.
Example: Fitness- 8. Keep up with five 30 minute workouts/week
Keep your goals small, simple, and doable. Often I’ll put those goals on my to-do list right away. Sometimes I can even accomplish one or more of the goals in the 30 minutes after I do the assessment.
Examples: Family- send a birthday card to Mom
Environment- clean off the top of my desk
Finances- scan business receipts for the past month
Mental/Emotional- schedule session with my counselor
As you can see, none of those goals will take a huge amount of time, however, they will contribute to either improving on or maintaining the rating I gave myself for the week.
The key pieces are this:
You can’t judge yourself for the number you get on any particular week
You have to give yourself small, manageable goals that you can achieve in the following week
It’s practically impossible to have a week where I rate myself 8s or 9s in every category (and I’ll be honest, I rarely give myself a 10 for anything). And there’s nothing wrong with that. However, when I start noticing one particular category is remaining low, that’s when I start to pay closer attention. Is there a reason that category is remaining low? Am I okay with it being low for a season or do I need to do something major to get that category up?
The best example I have for being okay with consistent low ratings was when I was in my first trimester of pregnancy while transition career locations for the 3rd time in three months. I was consistently exhausted and nauseas, and my weekly fitness ratings were consistently at a 5 or lower. And I was okay with that, because I knew as soon as I started feeling better, I would be able to improve that weekly rating, and I did.
Rating yourself in specific areas of your life isn’t a new idea, in fact, you can probably find several lists of areas to rate with a simple Google search. However, by rating yourself weekly (instead of yearly or even monthly), big changes can happen. The list below is the list of areas I rate weekly. Feel free to add, subtract, or change items from this list to make it yours.
Fitness- This one can be challenging, but don’t compare yourself to other people and their fitness journeys, how did YOU do on a scale from 1-10 this past week?
Nutrition- Some people prefer to combine Fitness and nutrition into one category, “health,” however I find separating them out to be more useful because nutrition is always harder for me than fitness.
Partner (Spouse/Lover)- However you choose to categorize your “person”, this category is for them. Also, you could be single and LOVING it. Whatever your situation, if you’re happy with it give yourself a high rating.
Family-This could be your immediate family, or your extended family. Your choice.
Friends- Some of your friends may have squeaked into the family category, and that’s okay. But how are you feeling in your other relationships? Do you need to step up or step back anywhere?
Environment- This is where you spend your time. At home? In your car? In the office? In your home office?
Mission- This could be your career, something you are passionate about, or both! Since my mission/business is the same thing I only have one category- but if you prefer to break it up, you do you!
Spirit- For me, this is my faith. But it might mean something different to you.
Hobbies/Restoration- It’s important to take care of yourself. This category often reminds me to sit down and read a book for fun a couple times a week!
Finances- Focus on just this past week. How do you feel like you did? Are you happy with your spending/earnings ratio?
Mental/Emotional- This is my big weekly “check-in”. How am I really feeling this week? What needs to change for me to feel better?
A word of caution. You may find that the areas of your live that are the most important to you seem to consistently have lower ratings. This is normal. We tend to judge ourselves against stricter standards in areas that are the most important to us. For example if you were to look through my last year of assessments, you’d probably find that my “Partner” category is regularly lower than you’d expect it to be. But that’s because I expect a lot out of myself in that category. And when I look back over the past week I generally find things I can improve on. Often that’s when I take time to put date-nights (or now, date brunches) on the calendar. It’s when I take the time to write him a note to tell him how grateful I am that he’s in my life. Sometimes, that’s when I realize that we’ve both been working so much we haven’t taken time to relax together so I suggest a cheesy 30 minute show while snuggling on the couch after dinner instead of getting more things done around the house. Sometimes (not always), the dishes can wait until tomorrow.
So maybe this seems silly. Maybe you’re wondering if you really need to do it every week. But trust me, if you make it a weekly habit big changes can happen. You’ll start seeing patterns and learn how to quickly identify when something in your life needs to change. And sometimes, you’ll realize that your entire mood can be lifted if you just deep clean the kitchen and take a nap.
Or maybe that just me.
Either way, I encourage you to give it a try for at least several weeks. Try implementing it now until the end of the year and see what kind of changes you can make. You’ll thank me later, I promise.
