What is an Alarm Clock Ratio? It is a simple calculation that anyone can do to gauge their level of life satisfaction. Sounds simple, right? It really is simple and all you need to do is one thing. Record your general mood when you wake up in the morning for 2 weeks.
Let me explain.
Do you wake up rested, ready to go, and excited about the day ahead? If you do, great!!! (and you suck, because I would guess that this is not most people)
Or do you hit the snooze button two or three times, grumble about not having enough sleep, and struggle to get out of bed? Does this sound more like you? Good, continue reading.
What does this tell you?
This simple exercise is a good measure of your current state of life satisfaction. Is everything going right in your life right now? Do you have a great job, in a growing industry, that allows you to increase your pay, advance in responsibility, and perform with your natural talents? Do you have hobbies or activities that you enjoy in your spare time? Is your financial health such that you can pay your bills, put away for retirement, and fund your lifestyle? Do you have great personal relationships, family life, and enjoy the people who share your time?
If you do, you are better off than most people. If not, you have some work to do.
The Alarm Clock Ratio is simply the ratio of good days to bad days. This will help you understand that if you wake up four out of five days dreading the day ahead, you need to work on figuring out why you are having so many bad days.
So what is a good ratio?
In a two week period, you should be having 10 good days. This gives you 2 bad days a week. Ideally, if you like the work you do, you will have more good days at work than bad. 3 good days to 2 bad days during working is great. If you have enjoyable activities on the weekends with friends and family, you get 4 good days. Anything less than 10 good days means there is something you are struggling with in your life. And, it could point to one of the 4 areas I described above.
In order to change, you need to identify the cause of your bad days. This can be as simple as not wanting to take out the trash on trash day, or as complex as your chosen career is not where you truly want to be. Once you have identified the cause, then you must determine the correct steps needed to solve the problem.
Everyone has a bad day now and then, but hopefully there are more good days than bad. Living with Nerd Zest is about living on purpose and making the right choices for your circumstances. You have the ability to change anything about your life that is not going right. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying. Yes, there may be factors in your life that are out of your control, but you have to make sure that you are making the right decisions about the things in your life that you can control.
For the next two weeks, do this exercise. Record your mood when you wake up in the morning. Mark it on a calendar, a scratch piece of paper, your bathroom mirror, or on your phone. Does not matter how, just do it. If you happen to pay attention to what is going on in your life that is making you have bad days, note that too, but it is not crucial. That is just extra information that you will use on the next step.
Please comment if you found this exercise helpful. I would love to start hearing back if anyone besides crawler bots are actually reading.
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