How would you rate your life on a scale of 0 to 10?
0 = dead.
10 = fully enlightened.
If you’re reading these words then, congratulations, your answer cannot be 0.
If your answer is 10 then, congratulations, you can stop reading because you’ve got more important matters to attend to like: meditating in a cave, starting a cult, or whatever else enlightened folks do these days.
That leaves the rest of us normies who fall somewhere between 1 and 9.
Common sense would have us believe that 3 is better than 1, 5 is better than 3, and so on.
That holds true except for one glaring exception — the dreaded 7/10.
“That’s preposterous! How could someone with a 7/10 life be worse off than someone with a 3/10?”
Hear me out.
For those of you who are honest enough to rate yourself as a 1 to 6-er, you understand that your life isn’t as good as it ought to be. So you know something needs to change. Which can ignite you to take immediate action and start making progress, no matter how small.
For those who rate themselves an 8 to 9-er, you’ve cracked the code to the good life. Or you might just be deceiving yourself because you heard that the key is low expectations, who knows?
The group I find myself in, and therefore wish to focus on today, is that unfortunate bunch who identify as 7/10-ers.
“What’s so bad about a 7/10 life?”
7/10 sounds pretty darn good.
That’s the crux of the problem — pretty darn good.
It freezes us into a state of complacency, where everything is good enough to survive but not good enough to thrive.
How do I know?
I’m living proof.
When I give an honest rating to all the different areas of my life, they look like this:
My health? 7/10.
My happiness? 7/10.
My wisdom? 7/10.
My finances? 7/10.
My job? 7/10.
My relationships? 7/10.
My creative output? 7/10.
Even the city I call home — Austin, Texas? 7/10.
I could go on and on but you get the point.
A 7/10 life meets spec.
So what’s the issue?
It merely meets spec.
Nothing is alarmingly lacking, but at the same time, nothing is as good as it could be.
We all the know the definition of insanity is to keep doing what we’ve always done and expect different results.
I’m actually jealous of the 1 to 6-ers.
Here’s why — if your job, diet, or finances are a 2/10 then you know exactly where your focus needs to go.
The glaring problem with a 7/10 life is that you have no idea where your focus needs to go.
A 7/10 life is good enough to not feel pressured to change anything, which makes it not horrible enough to change anything either.
Can you relate?
We usually don’t make any drastic changes to any area of life until they fall alarmingly low on the scale.
Why would we?
We have no incentive to focus on the 7/10 areas.
Instead, we stay on high alert for the areas that fall well below that mark, and when they do, we’ll do whatever it takes to improve them.
You’ve undoubtedly experienced this when your muffin top starts hanging out over your jeans, if you are spending way more than you earn, or if you lose a cherished relationship.
It’s like a light switch flips in your mind. You become laser focused on that one specific area. And receive the gift of the aha! moment that makes you stop eating like shit, sticking to a budget, or appreciating your other relationships knowing they won’t last forever.
Next thing you know, that area of your life shoots up the leaderboard all thanks to the focus you gave it.
So what’s the solution?
Hm…
Should we ask for more disaster or tragedy to strike that sends a certain area of life spiraling down to a 1/10 so we’re forced to focus on it?
Yuck.
Should we constantly raise our expectations every time life feels like an 8 or 9/10?
That doesn’t seem like a recipe for a peaceful existence if you ask me.
Here’s what I do know: progress = happiness.
It feels better to have your relationships, diet, mental health, etc. improve from a 3 to a 6 than to have it drop from a 9 to an 8.
Progress, no matter how slow it may seem day to day, is proof that you’re on the right path.
So we must treat the lacking parts of our lives as a gift.
Why?
Because it blesses us with a reminder that we need to pay extra attention, focus, and above all take massive action to lift that area out of the gutters.
Now that I think about it, a 7/10 life is a beautiful reminder that you are meant for more.
So what can you do today to make it a 10/10?
Your thoughts? Please leave a comment below.
Yes, but on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your ability to accurately rate yourself in any given area of life?
Why are you dismissing the 10s? You are literally asking a question of them after you tell them to stop reading further. Your answer is simple the 7s ask 8s who ask 9s who ask 10s. Or you can skip the chain and just ask a 10.