Recently we were traveling and I had the opportunity to sit next to a tech platform designer who was explaining to me, one of his current projects, when I asked him what he did, putting together a ‘dashboard‘ for a major credit card company. The dashboard would allow for the CEO or others within a company to easily access data to assess how different aspects within their system and how they were doing, in areas such as expenses, how much was coming in to a company and how much was spent in each department. A dashboard allows for one to easily have access to all of the important data at their fingertips. Administration at the top of the company decides what data is important to know and the designer of the platform/dashboard writes the code, the backend, the front end, all the additional components and then it all fits together and is delivered to a company after much testing. This is a useful tool for those within the company, to investors and anyone who has a vested interest. Think of the banking institution you do your personal banking with. They most likely have a dashboard available to customers that allows them to see all transactions, such as withdrawals, deposits and any bill you have auto pay with. You may have your credit card with this bank and one of the components of the dashboard may allow you to see each charge, allowing you to see any fraudulent activity. A dashboard can be a very useful tool for many reasons. The term comes from the dashboard of a car that shows you how much gas you have, your oil status, miles, tire pressure and so on.
So if you had a dashboard of the most important aspects of YOUR life, that you could see right in front of you, what areas of your life would you want to take a look at and what would it look like? What ARE the most important aspects of your life? And…how are you measuring up in each area. Hum? Have you thought about that lately?
Sometimes, people get so busy living their life, they neglect to take time to assess how it’s going. There may be an area that seems a little off balance, yet the thought of addressing it seem like a tall order and might just take energy and resources away from dealing with the rest of your life. That’s fair to think, but not addressing something needing attention can be a long range problem lurking in the shadows.
What topics would you want displayed on your dashboard? Some areas that may be of concern to most could range from one’s faith, personal relationships, romance, professional life, creativity, finances, health, fitness, education and possibly academia or personal growth. This could start with a “dashboard journal“, something you write out on a big piece of paper, a document written on your tablet, computer or phone in Pages or Word, depending on your device. Here’s an example:
Each of us has our own set of values and areas of life that get top billing and those areas of focus can change at different times in our lives. For instance, to someone in their late teens, early twenties, education and personal growth would be near the top as one prepares for a career and job, finding their professional path. Health and fitness, of course, would be important, but it might be a little further down and so on.
Every once in a while, one week’s blog post leads in to another or there is a two part essay continued the following week. This week’s blogpost follows “When You Have It All…And Don’t Realize it Until You Loose It”. Having a Dashboard of your life, even if it’s just in your mind, may make you mindful of occasionally taking inventory of the different portions of your life. It gives you a chance to take stock of what you have and may prevent disappointment later. Look at your Faith. Do you frequently pray, give thanks for the blessings in your life, pray for your family and friends? Do you spend time reading the Bible or doing a daily devotion or weekly Biblestudy? In terms of your romantic relationship, does your person know how much you value them? Do you set aside a date night, to check in, with no distractions of children or work, to build that relationship? Do you take time to call and get together with longtime friends or do you just let one year go after another without reaching out to see how they are doing? You need to be a friend, to have one. How about your health and fitness? Do you schedule your annual medical appointments and tests? Do you exercise regularly? If not, maybe you have not found an activity you enjoy. Spend time finding an activity you would spend time doing and explore a way to do it. Maybe you join a health club and find classes you like or research looking for a running group at the gym or in your town. Your place of worship may have classes or groups of interest in your selected area. Once you get going down the path, you may even develop some friendships or new areas of interest. One thing can lead to another.
We all hope to have a life well lived with people we love and care for. It doesn’t just happen. Just as any successful company or worthwhile organization has intentional goals, objectives and projections, you can do the same in your life. Having a ‘dashboard’ to measure these metrics and benchmarks can help you get where you hope to go, do the things you want to do and with the special people you would like to do them with…Get going! What are you waiting for? You have many great days ahead of you ❤️
