Well-being isn’t just about being happy. It’s a combination of 5 different elements: “the 5 elements of well-being”, specifically, what you do in your professional life, the quality of your relationships, your economy and financial situation, your health, and the way you feel connected to your communities. All these 5 elements interact and are really interdependent. And all of them together determines your level of wellbeing. If we want to lead your life, you have to lead successfully in these five areas.
When asked, many people often give disproportionate weight to income and health although research has proven that all of them are important to our wellbeing.
Tom Rath and Jim Harter published in 2010 the outstanding book Well-being – the five essential elements. In the book, they share the basic concepts of well-being and also Gallup latest discoveries on the topic.
The 5 ESSENTIALS ELEMENTS are:
- Career Well-being: it’s basically how you occupy your time. It’s about liking and enjoying what you do every day in your professional arena.
- Social Well-being: it’s about finding love in your life and having strong relationships.
- Financial Well-being: it’s about managing your economic life.
- Physical Well-being: is about having good health.
- Community Well-being: it is about the sense of engagement with the area where you live or the causes you support.
People with thriving well-being do better in life. According to Gallup research, 66% of people are having good levels of wellbeing in at least one of these elements, but only 7% of people are thriving in all five. People don’t get the most out of their lives unless they are living effectively in all five. And the good news is that you can take charge and improve them. You can practice exercise, you can improve your diet, you can take more control of your expenses, you can spend time in your community… For sure there are many things you cannot control. But on the other side, it’s completely clear that many things are in your control. Why don’t you think about these five elements and try to improve all these five elements by taking action decisively?
Well-being is not only a personal or individual challenge. It’s also a business challenge because companies with thriving employees do better business. Gallup research finds that employees thriving in all the above five elements of wellbeing:
- Are 36% more likely to report a full recovery after an illness, injury, or hardship
- Are more than twice as likely to say they always adapt well to change
- Miss 41% less work as a result of poor health
- Are 81% less likely to seek out new employment the next year
So, in this sense, companies and organizations have to take care of their employee’s well-being. Being able to improve them, is the best and shortest way to improve the company’s performance (invoicing, profitability, customer satisfaction…).
We, as humans need to discover a professional activity we love and benefits society. We need to invest time in strengthening our relationships. We need to manage our finances and take care of our families’ needs. And we need to adopt a lifestyle that is good for our health.
Changing our daily routine a little can have a big impact on the quality of each day, on the quality of your life and the life of other people.
In my next post I explain more in depth how to improve your professional well-being, don’t miss it!
