The Science of Living Well
blogThe problem with undertaking so many resolutions at the same time is that you are never sure which ones are making you feel better and which ones you could live without. If you make one resolution at a time and then measure the results you might have had something akin to evidence, but it is hardly scientific.
This is the same problem with the alternative medicine debate that rages between rationalists (like me) who think that it is all bunkum and believers (like my wife) who believe that homeopathy can cure virtually anything.
Rationalists argue that if such things did work then they wouldn’t be called alternative medicine, they would be called medicine because medicine is a science and science can be revised on the basis on new evidence.
Believers point out that the drugs industry is dominated by huge conglomerates who can’t profit from selling something as easy to obtain as shaken water.
At the root of the debate is the difficulty in obtaining proof about what works. You can conduct as many double-blind trials as you like, but the sheer number of variables on which a life is built make it difficult to ever be accurate.
Every day we hear conflicting information about wine, coffee, fish oil, apples, carbohydrates, meat, supplements, and a million other things. It makes sense to listen to your body, but again the number of variables involved make it impossible to know for sure. Also, you could have the perfect diet and still feel awful if you suffered from, say, cognitive dissonance or a lack of bonhomie. This is why every week I mark ten areas of my life out of ten, in order to identify areas of concern, and also giving me a score out of a hundred that I can compare against previous weeks. This way I can make educated guesses about what works.
These are the ten areas and what they mean:
1. Organized – have a good sense of milestones on each project, minimalist life, everything in place, remove distractions.
2. Fit and Healthy – do daily stretches, gym 3 times a week, eat well, cycle everywhere.
3. Loved – love and be loved, connect with family.
4. Financial Security – money in order, good investment decisions, healthy savings.
5. Productive – Achieve 3 important things everyday, be someone who takes action, who achieves things rather than procrastinates.
6. Purpose / Flow / Clarity – Achieving beyond what I must, engaged in life, know what to do, confident, a good worker.
7. Social – Go out around twice per week with people whose conversation I enjoy, meet new people.
8. Challenged – face difficulties with elan, write every day, learn important knowledge, expand horizons/comfort zone.
9. Appearance – dress well, pay attention to details, a lovely home.
10. Happy – relaxed in myself, laugh a lot, playful, sense that I am achieving my goals, compelling goals.
I hope it doesn’t appear cynical to look at all aspects of your life like this, certainly it doesn’t feel cynical. So far, the highest score I have given myself is 85, when I felt really good last week. This week I am being dragged down slightly by procrastinating about moving a load of domains from Lycos (who are closing down hosting operations) and the tiredness of staying up late for Celtic Connections.
Quite how I can make the results of this review scientific, I am not sure, but it definitely helps me.