The Lifestyle Game

Rate Your Life™

Instructions: The easiest way to find out about the Vibrant, Healthy, Dream Life is to rate your life by scoring yourself on the ten items below.
But for the most reliable results score yourself and a couple of your friends. Send them this Web site address, suggesting that they, likewise, score you and themselves. Then convene to have some real fun and discuss your discoveries in an intimate party setting. Or do it on line.

1. Have you largely mastered the art of relationships? Circle “A” if you have. If you are in unsatisfactory, non-working or abusive relationships, or are seeking but haven't been able to sustain a lasting, vital, primary relationship, give yourself anything from a “B” to an “E."

A B C D E

2. Have you found your dream life or your dream occupation? Or passions and hobbies that captivate you regularly for extended periods of time, giving you great satisfaction and flow experience? That can be anything, from pursuing the perfect wave in surfing to brain surgery. If you are living it, give yourself an “A”. If nothing turns you on or gives you flow experience regularly, take a "B." If you tend to turn from one thing to another, with nothing engaging you intensely and regularly for very long, assign a “C”.

A B C

3. Is your work rewarding and fulfilling? If you feel you would do it even if you weren’t paid, assign an ”A”. A “B” if you are compensated adequately, but can’t wait for retirement. A “C” to an “E” if your job is unfulfilling, stressful and not rewarding monetarily or psychologically. If you are already retired, rate “A” to “E” on how satisfying and fulfilling is your retirement life.

A B C D E

        4. Whatever kind of life you're leading, what's the ratio of time you spend
    • Actively engaged: creating, producing, working, writing, painting;
    • Participatory, involved play and recreation; and
    • As passive, spectator and in escapist entertainment?
Give yourself an “A” if the ratio is 45 (Creating) : 45 (Active Recreation & Play) : 10 (Escaping). “B” if the ratio is 50 : 30 : 20.   “C” if it is 70 : 15 : 15 or 15 : 15 : 70.

A B C

5. Are you choosing to be an open or a closed system? Do you regularly get out of your comfort zone? Go out of your way to meet people outside your social circle and status to get exposed to new lifestyles, activities and situations? And are you applying what you are learning to your daily life? If you are continuously changing, developing, growing, and doing things you haven’t done before, give yourself an “A”. To the extent that you are set in your ways and you go through an endless loop of the same routines, habits, games or life scripts, give yourself anything from a “B” to an “E”.

A B C D E

6. What existential position do you generally operate from? This is a forced choice: pick only one. Don’t cop-out by rationalizing that you sometimes operate from different positions in different situations. We all do. But what is your dominant mode? Click on the next link for clarification. If you are a Proactor, give yourself an “A”; “B” if you’re a Reactor; “C,” a Victim; and “D,” a Predator.

A B C D E

7. Getting optimum stimulation? An “A” if you manage a satisfactory balance most of the time. A “B” to an “E” if you are either over stimulated and feel stressed out, or under stimulated and bored.

A B C D E

8. Are you operating at your potential? Given your intelligence, talents and capabilities as well as your physical condition, “guess-estimate” at what percent of your potential you are functioning? An “A” if you feel you are operating close to your potential and “B” to an “E” if you’re not.
A B C D E

9. Your daily life maintenance activities: Do they enhance and prolong or shorten and diminish the quality and length of your life? If you normally get sufficient sleep, eat healthily, do at least 45 minutes of aerobic activities, have no more than 2 alcoholic drinks, and your Body Mass Index (BMI) is under 25 – give yourself an “A”. If you smoke, have 3 or more drinks a day, abuse other drugs, your BMI is over 25, or participate in other high-risk activities, give yourself a “B” to an “E”.

A B C D E

10. Finally, how happy are you with your life and the location where you live? Is this how you would like to live for the rest of your life? An “A” if your life is an exciting, stimulating adventure in an environment you enjoy. An “E” if it feels more like an exhausting, grinding, endless struggle, and a “B” to an “D” if it’s something in between.

A B C D E

Now pick the factor(s) that are the most important for you to change, and using the tools provided in Unlock Your Life and Cutting Loose, make the changes enjoyably, utilizing breakthrough discoveries in brain science and psychology.
If you have any personal lifestyle questions, e-mail them to me at Ask the Lifestyle Expert. If they are of general interest, I’ll respond to them in that column.

Al Louis Ripskis
Lifestyle Expert/SCORE Counselor