Article by John Polk
I recently had the antithesis of a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. As Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) from The Office would say, it was “perfektenschlag” – the Schrutes’ word for when everything in life comes together perfectly. I want to share these highlights not to brag but to illustrate the Wellbeing framework by Tom Rath and Jim Harter. Applying the framework can help make your personal goals more impactful and stick-to-it-able.
We’re massive fans of the Wellbeing framework as a practical way to improve your life and strive for work-life balance. Here are the five elements in the framework order:
- Career: enjoying what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
- Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
- Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
- Physical: maintaining good health and enough energy to get things done daily
- Community: liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community
Source: Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, Tom Rath and Jim Harter
Here are how the elements showed up for me this perfektenschlag day:
Community
I started the day meeting with staff at the MS Society. Since riding in the Bike MS event 19 years ago, I’ve become increasingly more involved, from being a team captain to sitting on the bike committee to being a chapter trustee. The bike team, sponsored by our local Capital Ale House, is on track to raise $1M by 2026, highlighting the power of recruiting friends and family to a common cause and sticking with it for decades.
Career
Ever since starting John Polk & Associates, I love what I do each day. While I don’t love writing proposals or reviewing contracts, I love the rest. I am the lucky cliché where a passion project became a second career.
Lots of meetings checked this box. I met with someone who recently left the corporate world to start a business. You could put this in the community category because I shared my experience starting my business, but we also discussed partnership opportunities. BTW, that’s the power of networking.
Next, I met with an author who gave me advice on publishing our book. She also agreed to introduce me to her publisher. So, after years of working on the book, I took an essential step towards making it a reality.
I also had two coaching meetings. Working 1:1 on clients’ use cases and seeing their presentations improve before my eyes is as rewarding as it gets. And with a diverse client base, I get a vicarious thrill seeing their fantastic projects.
Finally, Justin finalized our plan to launch a new project. We’d talked about it for a week or two; he took the reins and made it happen. It’s been great to have Justin bring fresh ideas (and actions) to improve the business.
Financial
I booked a workshop client. When you work for yourself, this is your payday. And you never know when it will hit, so you learn to celebrate every booked client. Of course, the work that led to this happened over multiple days and even months, but we’ll let the perfektenschlag day take the credit for crossing the goal line.
Notice that the framework has two elements tied to your job. That’s recognition that while money can’t buy me love, life is challenging without it.
Social
I ended the day with a date night with my wife. We went to a wine tasting at our favorite local spot. And we toasted the perfektenschlag day. My wife helps with all aspects of the business – I would not have hit this day’s milestones without her contributions.
Physical
Physical was the weakest element (pun intended). Because I was in meetings all day and went straight into date night, I didn’t work out. But that’s ok. We don’t have to hit every wellbeing element every day. On the plus side, I had a salad for lunch and worked at my standing desk all day. The more we build good habits, the more we can hit wellbeing elements without thinking about them. Justin thinks I should get a walking pad for my standing desk, but I think he’s just trying to get me to work more.
Notice the overlap among the categories. Improving multiple elements with one action is a form of balance. Any one of the things that happened that day could have made it a good day. It’s when they all come together that you have a perfektenschlag day!
Key Takeaways
- Leverage the Wellbeing framework to assess what’s important to you and set better personal goals
- Recognize the synergy amongst the elements and look for actions that can tick multiple boxes
- Acknowledge the outsized weight that your job plays in your wellbeing while remembering it’s not the only thing
- Consider all five of the elements of Wellbeing so you’re not fixating on one at the expense of the others
- Find partners who can help you set and achieve your wellbeing goals
- Appreciate the steps you take every day to improve your wellbeing, not just the days when those steps pay off
Here’s to your next perfektenschlag day! We’d love to hear your wellbeing tips. Or share your personal goals – there’s nothing like public commitments to improve your chance of success.
Note: The preferred US spelling is “well-being.” We’ve used “wellbeing” as it’s spelled in the book.