An Incomplete Vision
As I’ve been looking at my defininition of the Best Possible Version of Me, it increasingly seemed incomplete to me. I had essentially put together a series of statements that made perfect sense all by themselves, but didn’t seem to fit together well when put together. They were all a proper vision of what the Best Possible Version of Me is, but didn’t give the complete story when combined.
At the same time, I had been considering breaking my definition of the Best Possible Version of Me into 7 parts, so that I could have “theme” days, where I would spend the day focused more intently on a particluar aspect of the Best Possible Version of Me. This cyclical, focused effort would serve as a tool to improve my growth in each area over time faster than if I were to try to apply every aspect in the same measure each day.
So then the problem became, how do I divide my life into seven balanced pieces?
The Septessence
I think I’ve figured it out, in what I’m calling the “Septessence” — the 7 parts that compose the very essence of the Best Possible Version of Me. They are:
- Mind
- Body
- Spirit
- Relationships
- Wealth
- Impact
- Recreation
Now, this idea isn’t 100% original. It’s heavily influenced by Dan Miller’s Wheel of Life idea, which he uses as a way to prepare a balanced list of goals. Here, I’m using the idea for the longest-term goals possible: lifetime. I’ve taken some liberties with the categories to better encapsulate what my own balanced life looks like.
Here is how I’m approaching them:
Mind
Here, I define how the Best Possible Version of Me’s mind works. What kinds of things does he think about? What tools does he use to think about them? How does he share those thoughts with others? How does he assess what others say?
Body
Here, I define how I look, how I present myself, and what my body is capable of. Grooming and hygeine, fashion, strength, speed, stamina, anything related to how I look, function and feel is summarized in this category.
Spirit
This defines my moral life. How do I know right from wrong? What lines will I not cross? How do I build a strong character and live a life in line with my ethical standards, and how do I get back on track when I fail? Anything regarding the care and feeding of my soul goes here.
Relationships
This category describes my social life. What relationships matter most to me? What do my friendships look like? How many friendships do I maintain? What do I do to build stronger relationships? The relationships category defines everything the Best Possible Version of Me does to interact with others.
Wealth
This category is not about earning money, but about using it. How do I invest? What kinds of things do I buy, and how many? What are my attitudes about money? I also define my intentions for sharing my wealth. If it has to do with building up savings, taking care of what I have, and charitable giving, this is the place for it.
Impact
This could also be called “vocation”, but I really want to focus one step beyond that: when the Best Possible Version of Me does whatever it is he does, how does that impact the lives of others? What difference can I make in the world? But it doesn’t have to be that grand a scale. What I’m trying to define here is, how is the world (or country, or community, or my family) better because I lived? What things do I do on a regular basis to have that kind of impact? Superficially, this is also where income comes from — what does the Best Possible Version of Me do that’s so valuable that people will even offer to pay me money for it because they see the value?
Recreation
Even the Best Possible Version of Me needs to relax and unwind. But I believe there are valuable ways to relax and unwind, and there are wasteful, useless ways to relax and unwind. This category helps me outline how the Best Possible Version of Me takes a break. What ways can I take a step back and get recharged, but still use the time to make myself better? That’s what I capture here.
Septessence in Practice
When I first set out to put this model into action, I was going to have 1 day each week dedicated to one of these seven categories, and continue to cycle those over and over again.
One problem with that approach, though, is that I would only focus on “Mind” on Mondays, “Body” on Tuesdays, “Spirit” on Wednesdays, and so on. But the goal is to help me eventually make all of these factors a part of my life every day. So, I now run these on an 8-day cycle. The first 7 days are each dedicated to a particular facet of the septessential me, and on the 8th day I take a shot at being the full package. This keeps things in rotation so that I learn how to work each aspect of the best possible version of me into every day of the week.