This is how to make your life amazing

This is how to make your life amazingThis is how to make your life amazingYou already know a lot of things you should do to improve your life. Where we often get stuck is knowing whatsmostimportant. What comes first. Where to start.Asking yourself behauptung questions is A) a powerful personal exercise, and B) a great way to provoke an existential crisis. So lets get the answers like we did in high school and just cheat off the nerdy kid Gallup scientists asked way too many people way too many questions and, unsurprisingly, got some really good answers about what makes life amazing.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsGallup conducted a comprehensive global study of mora than 150 countries, giving us a lens into the wellbeing of mora than 98% of the worlds population. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, we asked hundreds of questions about health, wealth, relationships, jobs, and communities. We then compared these results to how people experience their days and evaluate their lives ov erall.After crunching all the numbers, Gallup found there were 5 factors that were really critical. And then the estimable Tom Rath wrote them up in a wonderfully readable book titledWellbeing The Five Essential Elements.The good news is that there are things we can do to improve in all five categories. And they were simple and interesting enough to makeme stop bingeing Ray Donovan and start typing.Lets break them down - in order of importance - and get this here show on the road Career wellbeingIt isntnecessarilyabout your job - its mora about what you do with your time. Its basically a measure of how subjects responded to the question,Do you like what you do each day?Its elendlage too surprising this welches the most important factor. If you dont like what youre doing the majority of your life, well, thats probably not going to be a very happy life.People who scored high in this area were mora than twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall. But only 20% of people sc ored that high. So what made all the difference?You dont have to be ecstatically happy with everything all the time. That makes you the crazy guy nobody wants to sit next to at lunch. But it is very important you beengaged.When Gallup randomly tested people throughout the day to see what they were doing and how they felt (measuring heart rate, cortisol levels, and mood), they saw there was aworldof difference between those who were really involved with their activities and those who were just counting down the minutes until the workday ended.The former were far happier and less stressed. So much so that the people in the top 20% enjoyed workdays as much as weekends. (Yes, apparently that is possible.) Engagement made all the difference.And it had long-term impact as well. People with the lowest engagement were far mora likely to later be diagnosed with depression - and to have cholesterin and triglyceride levels that looked like a stick of butter.FromWellbeing The Five Essential El ementsthose who were actively disengaged in their careers in 2008 were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression over the next year As employees levels of engagement at work increased, their total cholesterol and triglyceride levels significantly decreased. And those with decreasing levels of engagement at work had an increase in total cholesterol and triglycerides Boosting your Career Wellbeing might be one of the most important priorities to consider for maintaining good health over the years.So what do we need to do to increase engagement?Use your strengths as much as you can. Doing what youre good at makes you six times as likely to be engaged and more than three times as likely to be happy with your life.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsOne of the essentials to having fun at work is getting the opportunity to use your strengths every day. When we build on our strengths and daily successes - instead of focusing on failures - we simply learn more. Compared to those who do not get to focus on what they do best, people who have the opportunity to use their strengths are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life. Our global data show that these people can enjoy a full 40-hour workweek, while those who do not get to use their strengths get burned out after just 20 hours of work per week.Beyond that, spend as much time as you can with people at work that you like.When surveyed, who did peopleleastenjoy spending time with?Their boss.What was it about El Jefe that really cratered peoples engagement levels? It wasnt a mean boss - it was a supervisor who ignored them. And on the flip side, the best bosses focused on their employees strengths.If you have a boss like this, youre very lucky. Theres almost zero chance you feel actively disengaged at work.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsThe most disengaged group of workers we have ever studied are thos e who have a manager who is simply not paying attention. If your manager ignores you, there is a 40% chance that you will be actively disengaged or filled with hostility about your job. If your manager is at least paying attention - even if he is focusing on your weaknesses - the chances of your being actively disengaged go down to 22%. But if your manager is primarily focusing on your strengths, the chance of your being actively disengaged is just 1%, or 1 in 100.(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling bookhere.)Though Career Wellbeing was number one, its not everything. After all, theres more to life than work. Your personal life is very important tooSocial wellbeingVery simply, this is about having strong relationships and love in your life. Being surrounded by people who care about you, respect you and support your growth.Gallup did a rigorous analysis of the types of people we spend the most time with and how often we feel unhappy aroun d them. The numbers differed on average for men and women.Guysreallydont like being around the boss and ladies struggle disproportionately more when mom and dad are aroundWho you spend time with is critical because happiness spreads like a virus. If the people around you are happy, youre much more likely to be happy.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsThis research, which was based on a 30+ year longitudinal study of more than 12,000 people who were all part of one interconnected network, found that your odds of being happy increase by 15% if a direct connection in your social network is happy This led the studys authors to conclude that the wellbeing of friends and relatives is a more effective predictor of happiness than earning more money.And those around you dont just affect how you feel, they also affect your health. Whether youre obese, how much you exercise and how healthy you eat are all massively influenced by your social network.FromWellbeing The Five Essential Elemen tsIf your best friend is very active, it nearly triples your chances of having high levels of physical activity. We found that people with a best friend who has a very healthy diet are more than five times as likely to have a very healthy diet as well. Your best friends diet is an even stronger predictor of whether you have a healthy diet than the dietary habits of your parents. So the people we surround ourselves with might have more influence on our health than our family history does.So what do we need to do?First off, sheer amount of social time was a big issue. We need a minimum six hours of social time a day to be thriving. This increases happiness and minimizes stress. As one self-employed writer who works from home was very happy to learn, phone calls and emailsdocount.Even just three hours of social time drops your chances of having a bad day by 10%.The more time you spend around friends and family the better. (Yes, introverts, they studied members of our tribe and it was t rue for them as well.)FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsAcross all of our studies on daily wellbeing, we found that one of the best predictors of good days versus bad days is the amount of time people spend around friends and family membersWhen people have almost no social time in a given day, they have an equal chance of having a good day or a bad day. However, each hour of social time quickly decreases the odds of having a bad day. Even three hours of social time reduces the chances of having a bad day to 10%. And each additional hour of social time - up to about six hours - improves the odds of having a good day.If you have a best friend at work, you are seven times more likely to be engaged at the office, increasing that Career Wellbeing score. Two-for-one deals are always a good thing.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsOur research revealed that just 30% of employees have a best friend at work. Those who do are seven times as likely to be engaged in their jobs, a re better at engaging customers, produce higher quality work, have higher wellbeing, and are less likely to get injured on the job. In sharp contrast, those without a best friend in the workplace have just a 1 in 12 chance of being engaged.(To learn the two-word morning ritual that will make you happy all day, clickhere.)Okay, weve covered work and personal life. Time to talk money. Turns out lifes not all about dollars and cents - but its a lot about how youfeelabout dollars and centsFinancialwellbeingThis doesnt mean having piles and piles of moolah, baby. It was a more general measure of how you managed your economic life.In fact, the research showed that how youfeltabout your financial situation was more important than how much money you actually had.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsWhat we found was that financial security - the perception that you have more than enough money to do what you want to do - has three times the impact of your income alone on overall wellb eing. Further, a lack of worry about money has more than double the impact of income on overall wellbeingProblem is, were often more focused on doing better than others than actually doing better - and this leads to a lot of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses stress.Almost 50% of people would prefer to make $50,000 (if everyone else is making $25,000) than to make $100,000 (when everyone else is making $200,000.)But theres a clever way to fix this that doesnt involve stealing money from other peopleBy increasing your Career Wellbeing score (increasing engagement) and Social Wellbeing score (spending more time with people who love you) youre far less likely to be concerned with whether others are making more money.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsThe differences in how people perceive their pay are largely dependent on how engaged they are in their work. Those with high Career Wellbeing perceive the same amount of pay much more favorably than those with low Career Wellbeing do. Eve n when asked to compare themselves to the people they spend a lot of time with, those with thriving Career Wellbeing and thriving Social Wellbeing are nearly two times as likely to say they are satisfied with their standard of living.So how do we up our Financial Wellbeing score? Again, its less about making more money and more about how you feel. So dont fret too much over earning more cash - focus on how you spend what you already have.And spending money on others boosted happiness more than spending more on yourself.FromWellbeing The Five Essential Elementsthe participants who spent the money on a gift for someone else or who gave it to charity experienced a significant boost in wellbeing by the end of the day, while people who spent the money on themselves did not.And if its a choice between a vacation or a new car, purchase the vacation. Experiences beat material possessions handily when it comes to happiness. When you buy things, you inevitably take them for granted, while ac tivities create positive memories that you can relive indefinitely. Also, experiences are often social, meaning your Social Wellbeing score also gets a boost.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsBuying experiences such as going out to dinner or taking a vacation increases our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. Experiences last while material purchases fade. Even if you feel better immediately after your purchase, studies show that our satisfaction with material goods decreases over time.Another critical point Rath emphasizes is that setting positive defaults can help us make smart long-term financial decisions. Having a percentage of your paycheck automatically shuttled to savings is far more powerful than vague statements about wanting to spend less money.When we automate our finances we not only have to expend less effort to do the right thing - were also less tempted to do thewrongthing.(To learn 5 secrets from neuroscience that will increase your attention span, cli ckhere.)Work, personal and money are all big things. So big its easy to forget that that body of yours needs some attention tooPhysicalwellbeingGallup and Rath defined this one as having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis. (Being too tired to get off the couch and dying young have rarely scored high on any measure of happiness Im aware of.)Exercise. Do it. Not only does it make you happier and less stressed but the more energy you expend at the gym, the more youll have in your daily life.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsPeople who exercise at least two days a week are happier and have significantly less stress. In addition, these benefits increase with more frequent exercise. We found that each additional day of exercise in a given week - at least up to six days when people reach a point of diminishing returns - continues to boost energy levels As a Mayo Clinic publication stated A lack of energy often results from inactivity, not age.fruchtw ein scientific studies overlook another powerful component that contributes to major statistical increases in happiness and life satisfactionFeeling sexy as all hell.To their credit, Gallup and Rath dont ignore the sexy quotient. It matters. Exercise makes you feel attractive and feeling attractive makes you confident. In fact, research shows that your sexy quotient may be as powerful as formal metrics like BMI.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsOne of the primary reasons people exercise regularly is because it makes them feel better about themselves and their appearance, and it boosts their confidence. If you exercise today, you are more than twice as likely to feel physically attractive tomorrow. Feeling attractive is not just important for our self-confidence. Researchers at Columbia University found that our psychological perceptions of our body image could be as important as objective measures like body mass index (BMI).Im sure youre shocked, but recent groundbreaking and controversial research shows the food you shovel into your face affects your health. Ill pause to allow you to recover from the surprise.Whatisnotable is that restaurant choice can matter more than food choice. Eating at a place where the menu is bursting with healthy options makes you more likely to choose them. But when you go to a fast food restaurant the presence of a salad on the menu actually makes you more likely to eat junk.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsOne experiment revealed that just having a healthy option on a menu (a side salad) actually made people three times as likely to select an unhealthy option (a side of french fries) when compared to a menu without the side salad as an option. So when the burger joint adds a healthy salad to its menu, it gives us an excuse to go there for lunch But if we choose to have lunch at a restaurant that serves mostly healthy choices instead, it increases our odds of making a good decision at the last minute.And do I even ne ed to mention getting enough good sleep? Please. You know, it, I know it, Gallup and Rath know it. Im not writing anything else about it. Use the time you saved not reading stats on sleep to go take a nap.(To learn the 5 questions that will make you emotionally strong, clickhere.)So whats left? To truly have a good life, you need to be a part of something. And that something is not merely the Costco Gold Star Membership CommunitywellbeingThey defined this one as asense of engagement you have with the area in which you live. Yeah, its last on the list but Rath says this can be the difference between a good life and a great one.Theres a lot of ways we can invest in those around us but the one that pays the most dividends to everyone involved (including the almighty you) is the one were usually least likely to pickGiving others your time.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsWhen we surveyed more than 23,000 people on this topic, nearly 9 in 10 reported getting an emotional boost fr om doing kind things for other people Several studies have shown a link between altruistic behavior and increases in overall longevity, and researchers have speculated that this might be due in part to how well-doing inoculates us against stress and negative emotions.Being engaged in a positive community ends up molding us into better people (like it or not). Studies show we usually dont give up bad habits because of willpower or snarky blog posts its because were influenced by those around us.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsWhen it comes to smoking, you are 61% more likely to smoke if you have a direct connection with a smoker (compared with the likelihood based on chance). At the second degree of separation, youre still 29% more likely to smoke if your friends friend is a smoker. And at the third degree, you are 11% more likely to smoke Most people did not quit smoking on their own. They quit because it was no longer socially acceptable to smoke.So to increase your Commun ity Wellbeing score, Rath recommends three thingsIdentify how you can contribute to your community based on your personal mission.Tell people about your passions and interests so they can connect you with relevant groups and causes.Opt in to a community group or event. Even if you start small, start now.(To learn the secret to never being frustrated again, clickhere.)Okay, weve covered a lot. Lets round it all up and learn how to get started and create an upward spiral that leads to an amazing life Oh, and lets also see what activities ranked as most and least enjoyable. Id feel guilty if I didnt include that. I dont like to feel guilty. Reduces my Blogger Wellbeing score to single digits Sum upThis is how to make your life amazingCareer Wellbeing Be engaged. Use your strengths. Hide from your boss.SocialWellbeing Spend time with the good people, not with the bad people. (If you want something less obvious than that, go read all those words I wrote above, lazybones.)FinancialWellbei ng Usually its not about how much you have, its about how you feel about what you have. Increasing the prior two factors prevents you from negatively comparing yourself to others.PhysicalWellbeing Exercise, eat right and get your sleep, obviously. As we all know in our heart of hearts, feeling sexy is important. Restaurant choices can matter more than food choices.CommunityWellbeing Helping others helps you. Therefore, helping me helps you. Why dont you call more often?So what did the research show made us happiest?And what got the thumbs down?Personal medical care, huh? I cant wait to go to the dentist tomorrow is a sentence yet to be spoken on planet Earth, thats for sure.So how do you get started? Get a good nights sleep. (As a grown man with the sleeping habits of a college student during finals, I concur.) Hit the gym. And then get to work and find a way to use those strengths of yours with people you like.FromWellbeing The Five Essential ElementsWhen we break this downward spi ral and get a good nights sleep, were off to the right start. This allows us to wake up refreshed and increases our chances of exercising in the morning. If we can use our strengths at our job every day, this connects our daily activities to a much higher purpose and allows us to get more done. Between work and time with our friends and family, if we can get in six hours of social time, chances are, well have 10 times as many good moments as stressful ones.Theres something else worth noting. It is utterly impossible to score high on all of these factors without other people. You cannot do it alone. So dont.Take a second to think about how you can help others achieve these five. How what you learned here can improve their lives. Not only will that immediately improve your Social Wellbeing and Community Wellbeing scores, itll also get you motivated and maybe get you an amazing life buddy.Making other peoples lives amazing is among the most powerful drugs known to man.Your own life bec oming amazing is its most common side effect.Join over 320,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.This article first appeared on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.