The Discipline Of Self Assessment – 10 Areas For Self Assessment

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.
August Wilson

As I mentioned yesterday, my basement flooded.

The first step in dealing with a flooded basement is understanding what caused the water problem.  Both of my sump pumps were working, but they obviously couldn’t keep up.  Why was water coming into the basement more quickly than it should?  The rain earlier in the day had been very heavy, but the pumps should have kept up.

When I walked around the outside of the house, I discovered that one of the downspouts at the back corner of the house was not attached correctly.  This was causing a large amount of water to flow straight into the foundation.  I fixed the downspout, but the damage was already done.

Had I walked around the house before the rainstorm, I would have noticed the problem, and I would not have been dealing with a wet basement.

As I have been reflecting on this experience, I was reminded of the importance of taking a regular inventory of our lives.  Regular self assessment gives us an opportunity to see where we are – to see what things are okay, what things could be better, what things need to change, and what things need to be removed.

By practicing the discipline of self assessment, we minimize the potential for disaster, and we maximize the potential for achieving future success.  Here are some areas where you should be conducting a regular self assessment:

10 Areas For Self Assessment

1. Personal property.  What do you own?  Car, house, computer, jewelry.  Things wear out, break down, and need maintenance.  Regularly examine your personal property to make sure it is in working order.
2. Career path.  When was the last time you updated your resume?  Are you making progress towards your career goals?  Career growth does not happen by accident.  You must be intentional if you want to move forward along your desired career path.
3. Educational pursuit.  Are you feeding mind?  And are you feeding it with the right material?  Read.  Listen.  Grow.
4. Physical fitness.  Are you being a good steward of your body?  Take time to assess your nutrition, your exercise, and your overall fitness.
5. Financial fitness.  Take time to budget.  Take time to keep track of your financial condition.  Are you on track to meet your long-term goals.  Get rid of debt in your life, and find ways to save.
6. Emotional condition.  How is your general attitude?  Are you a happy person?  Or are you a grumpy person?  Attitude often determines our altitude.  If you want to go somewhere in your life, learn how to be a positive person.
7. Relational status.  How is your marriage?  How is your relationship with your kids?  How is your relationship with your family and friends?  Relationships require effort, and they change throughout time.  For this reason, you must regularly assess these relationships.  If your marriage is going well, determine what is helping this and keep doing it.  If your marriage needs some work based on your assessment, make changes today to improve it.
8. Generosity.  Are you giving away your time, talents, and money?  Are you giving away too much or too little?  A regular assessment of your generosity will keep you on the right track to living a life that really matters.
9. Time.  Sit down with your schedule on a regular basis.  Are you building margin into your schedule?  Are you spending time on things that matter?  How are you wasting your time?  A regular assessment of your time is essential avoiding burnout and boredom.
10. Spiritual well-being.  How is your spirit?  How are you feeding your spiritual self?  How is your relationship with God?  In our busy lives, it’s too easy to let our spiritual well-being take a back seat.  When you are assessing your life, don’t forget to take an inventory on your spiritual life.

Self assessment won’t happen or be effective unless you take it seriously.  Create a routine for taking an inventory on these areas of your life.  Some things require daily assessment.  For other things you might check in weekly, monthly, seasonally, or annually.

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to prevent a flood in your basement or to prevent another kind of disaster in your life.  Decide today to practice the discipline of self assessment.

How would your world be different if you made the decision to practice the discipline of self assessment?  How has self assessment made a difference in your life?