What Makes A Week ‘Good’?
When you first look at your life in finite terms, self-reflection races forward fast and furious. If you’re not vigilant, past actions and ‘lost’ days might swiftly turn into weeks of future regret. And that’s time we don’t have to lose. Truly, rueing choices provides little value and steals power from our lives.
We must stop wasting energy on the indifferent thread of history and instead focus on weaving vibrant new stories that strengthen the fabric of our lives - staying focused on making every week good.
Of course, that poses an interesting question. What makes a week good? When I started filling out the first boxes for ‘25 Good Years,” I quickly recognized that some guidelines would be needed to make this exercise meaningful, measurable, and sustainable.
So, I brainstormed a few ideas to ensure consistent tracking.
Option 1: the instinctual “Gut Feel” … or, on Saturday night, when reflecting on the week, was it good or crappy? While I sensed this solution worked better than listening to your heart, it felt too volatile, with emotions easily swayed by current feelings and physical states.
Option 2: the “Ben Franklin Pros & Cons”… or more simply, list the good aspects from the week in column A and put the bad stuff in Column B. The bigger list wins. The idea of cataloging good and bad moments enticed me. But I felt the crazy variations in a typical human’s week created the distinct risk of losing track of other life essentials, core components of living that mean something week in and week out.
Then, the revelation! Option 3 … the creation of the “Life Force Analysis” …
Emotional components and gut feel? Check.
Qualitative and quantitative measurements? Check, and check.
And yeah, it just sounded waaaayyy cool ;)
So, what exactly constitutes a Life Force Analysis? Essentially, the weekly process enables you to evaluate the most crucial threads of your life and determine whether they’ve been woven into a beautiful tapestry or hung like strands of undyed wool on an old loom.
I placed the threads of my life into 9 categories (yours may vary). To get started, I’d recommend identifying the ‘buckets’ that make up your happiness DNA and then layer in other aspects of your life.
Here’s where I landed, in no particular order:
Creativity: Did I express unique ideas with the goal of intentionally connecting with others, sharing feelings, or eliciting emotion?
Family life: Was I a good husband and dad? Did our family dynamics leave me feeling proud?
Fitness: Did I nourish my body with sufficient exercise and eat right?
Emotional State: Was my week predominantly a picture of joy, sadness, anger, or happiness? Did specific emotions or events dominate how I felt?
Intellectual Stimulation: Did I learn something new, tax my way of thinking, or impart knowledge in a meaningful way?
Spirituality: Was I present with God?
Work: Did I contribute meaningfully to society or an organization?
Experiences: Did I try something new or engage in activities that made me feel good (and were good for me)?
Relationships: Did I foster new connections or maintain / enhance current relations?
At the week’s conclusion, I briefly journal a few notes about each category and then color-code the associated thread. Green for good, yellow for okay, and red for bad. Next, I count the greens and reds and offset pairs so they both become yellow. Finally, I count all of the colors and note the hue with the highest number. That shade wins the week.
The exercise is pretty straightforward, but in my opinion, there’s much more here than merely “checking a box.” A weekly run-through of the Life Force Analysis thrusts you deeply into the current state of your existence.
Following the process purposely makes you keenly aware of how your daily actions impact your life. It also makes you conscious of how others’ choices impact you. Over time, that understanding grants you the superpower to take control, to act with intention on all of the threads that knit your life together, and to focus on the people, projects, and places that will help you have a good week and (hopefully) 25 Good Years.
Here’s to having more green weeks than yellow and keeping the red weeks out of your life :)
