Life Satisfaction Can Close the Gap Between Your Ambition and Abilities

And just like that, February 2025 is almost over! Honestly, where did all the days go? Anyway, it’s probably time to do a bit of a temperature check on your goals and motivation for the year to figure out how the “new year, new you” is holding up. Even if you don’t buy into those cringe clichés, it’s still good to assess if you’re on track or off, towards achieving important strides in your career, business, family, relationship, and more. It’s time to be fully transparent and honest with yourself. What have you accomplished in the past two months (or what will you do this quarter) that is going to truly move the needle towards your goals? Are you capable of more? Are you procrastinating? Are there areas where you are holding back? If yes, why is that so? I’ve been thinking about all these and more and decided to come up with a little self-assessment for life satisfaction that I think would be very helpful. The life lessons that come out of it can help you close the gap between your ambition and abilities.

Image source: Unsplash.com 

First things first, let’s discuss what life satisfaction means. We often think it’s acquiring things — more money in the bank, a bunch of accolades, and tons of material possessions, but on the contrary, life satisfaction refers to the quality of life of a person. It is affected by a range of factors including one’s age, identity, personality, self-esteem, outlook on life, values, culture, past and current life experiences, family, and sense of belonging. Success means different things to different people and because of that, there is no “one shoe fits all” approach.  According to research, people who typically feel positive about themselves (e.g. good self-esteem, confidence, resilience) usually have the tendency to experience a high life satisfaction, over those who are generally disposed to negative feelings (depression, anxiety, anger) and which result in low life satisfaction. While working towards a better life satisfaction, it is important to note that happiness is fleeting. Satisfaction on the other hand is an emotion that’s long-lasting. Now, let’s get into the life satisfaction assessment.

Conduct a self-assessment for your life satisfaction

Get extremely clear on what it is you really want. 

Pull out a journal and make a list of all the areas of improvement in your personal and professional life. Write down everything you want to do in 2025. This is the realm of setting smart goals. Once you are done, consider doing an assessment of your overall thinking and approach towards doing and achieving. If you already made goals in December 2024 or at the beginning of the year, you can skip right to this part immediately and do the assessment. 

Answer the five questions below based on your goals.

• Are you chasing a feeling or an outcome?
• If a feeling, how do you want to feel? If an outcome, what are the results you are seeking? Write as much as you can, but be prepared to expand on the top three to five as in the next question below.
• What needs to happen in your life to trigger those feelings? OR What events need to happen in your life for you to be able to accomplish the mentioned outcomes?
• Are these triggers or events feasible and doable? For each, rate the chances of them happening on a scale of 1 to 10.
• Finally, based on all of this and according to your values, plus other factors discussed, are these feelings or outcomes a good marker of a highly satisfying life?

Maybe, for instance, you’ve finally realized that extrinsic values such as high pay, power and status are no longer the benchmark. Even if they are, for you, there’s always a better, more fulfilling way than you might have imagined, to get there. Now, take everything you’ve processed about what constitutes a highly satisfying life and approach your goals with a renewed sense of focus, based on your shifted priorities.

Visual Image by Hannah Wilson (@quotedvisually)

Get the right perspective, be disciplined and just start!

Life satisfaction doesn’t have to be this elusive thing that only special people can attain. Change your mindset about how you are supposed to reach the goals (not through constant hustle and burnout, but with a sense of ease that brings fulfillment), and then, just start. Don’t dream and talk about what you’re going to achieve. Do it. You know, this is sometimes very hard to do. Humans are wired in a way where its hard to do the boring, repetitive things that often lead to success. We are always chasing after thrill and the next shiny object. It is important to be disciplined or nothing gets done at all. You cannot rely on your willpower alone because it fades, just like feelings do. However, improving self-discipline will increase your willpower and the ability to push yourself to continue (even when you do not feel like it). Over time, you’ll be happier, less anxious and most likely, you’ll achieve those set goals.

Know your weaknesses and be proactive about them

Forming good habits involves identifying your weaknesses and all the ways in which you usually self-sabotage. If you have sweet tooth cravings that often gets in the way of your healthy diet, then consider not buying such things or keeping them around the house and advise others to respect these boundaries too. You can take simple steps to ensure that bad habits are broken or at least, the risk of them happening is limited. Learn from your mistakes and do better next time. Next, find an accountability partner who can help keep you accountable. This person could be family, a friend, mentor, colleague or coach.

Here’s 15 inspirational lessons for cultivating discipline, resilience and life satisfaction

These are things I honestly wished I knew at 20 that I had to learn, mostly through experience.

1. Define what success means to you and stick to it. Don’t mistake status for success and remember that comparison is the thief of joy. 
2. No one is coming to save you. Take responsibility for your life and make choices that align with your values and goals. 
3. What others think of you is none of your business. Be authentic and let others keep their opinions to themselves.
4. Everyone’s path and timeline for success in life is different. Be patient with your unique journey and don’t envy others.
5. You can’t force a true connection with someone. Connect with others but don’t get too attached to the wrong ones. Loyalty is also important, so choose wisely.
6. It’s the little things that matter, not the big ones.
7. Focus on quality, not quantity, and collect memories and experiences, not things.
8. Get content and accept yourself. Become whole and at peace with the person you’re becoming.
9. When people offend you, 99.9% of the time; it has nothing to do with you. Take nothing personal, and judge no one. 
10. Have an attitude of gratitude. Give thanks for whatever you currently have while making room to attract more.
11. Everyone has a serious problem they’re experiencing that you probably know nothing about. Embrace your challenges, navigate with care, and create possible solutions.
12. Practice listening to your intuition, it will never guide you astray.
13. Keep life simple. If it’s too complicated, let it go.
14. Don’t assume that you know it all — Always read the fine print before you sign anything.
15. Don’t just dream and talk about what you’re going to achieve. Do it.