Building a perfect lifestyle

[The Architect]

I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I find the idea of conciously building a lifestyle, which I see as perfect, very inspiring. It is the roots of my username and my personal creed in terms of personal development. Many people who read my particular take on the subject and my goals may see me as vain, arrogant, ignorant, lacking spirituality, stupid, and even conformist of societies perception of perfection. I welcome this form of criticism as long as, and only if, it is constructive and doesn't turn into an attack to persuade to me your way of thinking.

Like many people interested in personal development I have spent far too much time in my own head and not enough time bringing my ideas to fruition. I'd like today to be the start of my unprecedent rapid overhaul of my lifestyle. I'd like to thank Lifeisamazing for posting a link to celestinechua.com in his 'Inspiration Room' thread last month. The Life Wheel on Celes' website has been helpful to me in organising the starting points of my new lifestyle. It has also helped me realise the interdependence of EVERYTHING that is going on in my life currently. No matter how little, you will always be able to find a link between two of the ten segments in your life wheel. I highly recommend this article to anyone reading this.

Problem: the life wheel is honest and may shock you by letting you how unfufilled you are with your lifestyle. Not to worry, the more unfufilled you are the more chance for you have to create a better lifestyle. Luckily I have loooooads to work on .

Here is a rough overview of how mine turned out:
1) Studies - 4
2) Finance/Wealth - 5
3) Health/Fitness - 5
4) Social/Friends - 4
5) Family - 4/5
6) Romance/Love - 6
7) Recreation/Fun - 4.5
8) Contribution - 2.5
9) Personal Growth - 3
10) Spiritual - 5
11) Job Satisfaction - 3

As depressing as the low scores are (perhaps slightly over-critical in some parts) simply jotting down my feelings towards a certain segment of the life wheel was helpful to me in realising how much I could a) easily change for the better and b) make difficult decisions which would make me happier overall.

An example:
I turned 18 in July, in the United Kingdom universal child benefits, tax credits, ect.. stop at the age of 18 (although that changed to 16 today in the brutal spending cuts unleashed my our elitist government). Because of this it is the norm for 18 year olds to start contributing small amounts towards bills/food ect (around £30 {$50} a week). Due to poor job satisfaction I often don't show up for shifts or give them to other people who are looking for more hours. This causes my finances to suffer as I have less money to spend on myself, either my social life takes a hit or tensions within my family rise (sometimes I spend too much and can't afford to give them money) . Tomorrow I am submitting my application for a Costa Coffee which is inside Waterstones (big book store similar to Borders ). I love good coffee and I love books, I could spend hours after a shift just sitting reading in the abyss of information. I believe working in Costa reflects my personality so much more than my current job. Also, i'm very passionate about food and there is no excuse for a passionate cook not to be able to make drinks that are equally as amazing as the food they create. My years experience as a barista will hopefully land me this part-time job and lead to a better overall life.

I have far too many examples to include in this post but I will be regularly updating my life wheel and explaining what has helped me feel more fufilled which will hopefully inspire a few people here (+1 for contribution ). Some things that might crop up in future: a journal, a motorbike, sex, sky diving, surfing, snowsports, a classrep, an alcoholic and one hell of a body.

The Architect

[Acting Like Godot]

Good luck!

[Mounds]

The first step to achieving it is believing it can be done, even if it's uncommon and there is opposition. Declare what you want and plan backwards until you reach where you are right now. Then you have your roadmap and your destination.

-Tim

[Daffy Duck]

Sounds great. Keep us posted.

Side-note: I know Celes a bit... I was in a blogging club with her. Her site is fantastic. Glad you liked it.

[Lifeisamazing]

Incredible that I was of help to you.

I remember when I made my life wheel, pretty much all of my areas where 2 or 3. Not that I'm not happy but I just want enormously more of myself because I know that I'm capable of amazing goals.

Just like you, I also find building my life so inspiring. That's what keeps me going all the time.

Good luck with your goals!