Surveying the state of one’s life suggests specific focus areas for improvement.

A survey can look like a few sentences and percentage actualized rating of the following areas:

  • Health: Body, mind, and spirt.
  • Work: Obliged effort, whether paid, donated, or expected.
  • Play: Joyful things done for their own sake. Can be productive.
  • Love: Coming in, and going out. To/from lovers, family, friends, pets—

This survey might point to an area that deserves improvement. Care should be made to avoid fixating on a gravity problem.rB5 Useful activity for goal planning.



  1. William Burnett and David J. Evans, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, First edition (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016). (See notes.)