How are you? A simple personal evaluation.

Although you value your well-being, sometimes you may struggle prioritizing taking care of yourself. I know I do.

I want to suggest a minimalistic scorecard to answer how you are doing – from a personal well-being standpoint.

• Physical: Sleep, diet, exercises
• Emotional: Stress, anxiety, and depression
• Cognitive: Intelligence, culture, and focus
• Spiritual: Moral clarity

How are you, physically?

For this scorecard, we'll focus on what you've done over the past 30 days (or 90 days, etc). It won't really be a big deal if you slept badly yesterday or splurged a bit on the last holiday.

Most of the good health outcomes come from consistency and, in my experience, that's where we most struggle.

How's your sleep?

Your sleep is good if you have over the past 30 days:

1. A consistent bedtime
2. Device-free
3. Uninterrupted sleep
4. 7-8 sleep hours

If you have the above over the past 30 days, you're doing good in sleep.

It's a low bar, but let's be honest – many of us don't meet it.

How's your diet?

Your eating habits are good if you have over the past 30 days:

1. Avoided refined sugar and added salt
2. Avoided highly processed meats or packaged foods
3. Limited or avoided alcohol
4. Chosen water over soda

If you have maintained the above over the past 30 days, you're doing good in diet.

There's much more to a good diet, and this list is quite a low bar.

Despite its simplicity, it's incredibly hard to stick with: chocolate, ice cream, pastries, snacks, bacon, and diet soda are staples of the modern diet.

How's your exercise?

Your exercise habits are good if you have, over the past 30 days:

1. Exercised at least 4 days in the week
2. Done strength, hypertrophy, or power training
3. Improved your cardio through running, biking, or endurance exercises like HIIT or high-rep bodyweight
4. Stayed injury-free

If you've been consistent with the above over the past 30 days, you're doing good in exercise.

You can knock this off in 5 hours of exercise per week, which is a pretty low bar.

Surprisingly, even some fit individuals focus exclusively on either cardio or strength, neglecting the other.

Just do both. You'll be better for it.

How are you, emotionally?

Unlike physical, it's hard to evaluate emotional health through habits alone.

Instead, we'll look at how you've been over the past 30 days.

How's your stress?

Your stress is well-managed if you have over the past 30 days:

1. Avoided any significantly stressful periods
2. Effectively recovered before taking on new stressors
3. Used healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress

If you've been effective with these over the past 30 days, you're doing good.

Being on tech and dealing with high performing individuals, this is the part I see many struggle, and an area I struggle with myself.

But if you look at it critically, this is a pretty low bar.

How's your anxiety?

Your anxiety is well managed if you have, over the past 30 days:

1. Avoided any periods of prolonged worries
2. Effectively calmed yourself when facing concerning situations
3. Didn't worry excessively when dealing with prolonged uncertainty

If you've done well in these areas over the past 30 days, you're doing good.

This should be a pretty low bar. Some anxiety is normal (and even beneficial), but any excess anxiety hinders progress and hurts your well-being.

In my experience, this is becoming harder – especially for those who are constantly plugged into the news and social media.

How's your depression?

You don't show any signs of depression if over the past 30 days you have:

1. Always felt motivated to face the day
2. Maintained interest in activities you typically enjoy
3. Stuck to your daily routines despite life's surprises

It's okay to have an occasional low mood or a lazy Sunday. But this is a pretty low bar for a life well lived.

Depression, mild or severe, is serious and hard to overcome. If you need to improve here, prioritize your physical health, engage your support network, and seek professional help.

You don't have to face it alone.

How are you, cognitively?

For how you're doing cognitively, we'll evaluate the intellectual activities you've engaged.

How's your intelligence?

The "I" word – yes, I've used it.

You're nurturing your intelligence if you have, over the past 30 days.

1. Engaged in intellectual problem-solving or critical thinking daily
2. Consistently performed or created in a creative hobby or job
3. Sharpened a mental skill through practice

If you've done these over the past 30 days, you're doing good. It's a pretty low bar.

As humans, we are blessed with intelligence, but it's a tool that requires sharpening to be at its best.

All mental skills count here: programming, writing, music, painting, chess, etc. Using "multiple intelligences" is okay.

If we define these areas as 1) applying, 2) creating, and 3) learning, it's likely you're doing at least 1 of them, but not all 3.

Find ways to incorporate all 3 – applying, creating, and learning – into your intellectual activities.

How's your culture?

You're nurturing your culture if you have, over the past 30 days.

1. Read fiction to explore new ideas, concepts, and models
2. Read non-fiction to better understand the world and build practical skills
3. Listened to or debated perspectives you disagreed with to improve openness and critical thinking

If you've engaged in these 3 activities, you're doing good. It's a pretty low bar.

Honestly, I'm not a great judge of how the news or podcasts improve your culture compared to reading fiction or non-fiction.

In my limited judgment, books are the most effective medium. So if you're in doubt, just do that.

I think podcasts can be a good source of information we disagree with, but I suspect most people listen to podcasts they like instead of podcasts that challenge them.

So if you're into podcasts, listening to podcasts from people you disagree with and being genuinely interested in what they're saying is something you may want to try.

Remember Mill's warning – “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”

How's your focus?

Your focus is strong if, over the past 30 days, you have:

1. Consistently done your work without distraction from news, social media, or personal matters.
2. Maintained long stretches of deep work daily, free from messaging or internal interruptions.
3. Stayed fully present with family and friends during meals and time together, without checking or thinking about work.

If you've done these over the past 30 days, you're doing good. It is a minimum of focus, so it's a pretty low bar.

But in the modern world, maintaining any focus is rare. Boundaries are porous, and work seeps into all parts of life.

At work, constant interruptions – especially if you're on Slack – prevent deep work. Outside of work, distractions like social media and remote work make it difficult to stay present.

No wonder deep work feels like a challenge if you're checking messages every 6 minutes.

How are you spiritually?

Let's talk about spirituality. For every person, spirituality is different, so it's hard to create a standard that's all encompassing. But let's try.

Your spiritual well-being is strong if you have, over the past 30 days:

1. Reflected on your values and principles, ensuring they are clear.
2. Acted consistently with your values on a daily basis.
3. Used philosophy, religion, or self-discovery to develop a sense of purpose – a clear understanding of why you're here and what you're meant to do.

A life well-lived needs a definition. If you don't know what it means to live a good life, it's unlikely you'll succeed in living one.

So make time for spiritual pursuits. Make time for philosophy or religion. Make time for reflection.

Pause.

Decide where you're going before you keep moving.

So how are you, really?

These areas represent just a subset of how you really are doing, primarily focused on your personal well-being. It doesn't cover family, relationships, finances, work, community, travel, etc.

But these criteria are foundational. Improving in these areas leads to direct personal progress.

So if you want to assess how you're really doing, here are the set of questions to reflect on:

Over the last 30 days, have you:

Physical Health

• Slept at a consistent time?
• Went to bed without using your phone or other devices?
• Had only full nights of uninterrupted sleep?
• Got 7–8 hours of sleep per night?
• Avoided refined sugar and added salt?
• Avoided highly processed meats or packaged foods?
• Limited or avoided alcohol?
• Chosen water over soda?
• Exercised at least 4 days per week?
• Done strength, hypertrophy, or power training?
• Done cardio through running, biking, or endurance exercises like HIIT or high-rep bodyweight?
• Stayed injury-free?

Emotional Health

• Avoided any significantly stressful periods?
• Effectively recovered before taking on new stressors?
• Used healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress?
• Avoided prolonged periods of worry?
• Effectively calmed yourself in anxious moments?
• Didn’t worry excessively when dealing with prolonged uncertainty?
• Felt motivated to face the day?
• Maintained interest in activities you typically enjoy?
• Stuck to your daily routines despite life’s surprises?

Cognitive Health

• Engaged in intellectual problem-solving or critical thinking daily?
• Consistently performed or created in a hobby or job?
• Sharpened a mental skill through practice?
• Read fiction to explore new ideas, concepts, and models?
• Read non-fiction to better understand the world and build practical skills?
• Listened to or debated perspectives you disagreed with to improve openness and critical thinking?
• Consistently done your work without distraction from news, social media, or personal matters?
• Maintained long stretches of deep work daily, free from messaging or internal interruptions?
• Stayed fully present with family and friends during meals and time together, without checking or thinking about work?

Spiritual Health

• Reflected on your values and principles, ensuring they are clear?
• Acted consistently with your values on a daily basis?
• Used philosophy, religion, or self-discovery to develop a sense of purpose?

Self-evaluation and reflection

These questions are meant to guide your self-evaluation and reflection. Each area is interconnected – especially physical health – and progress compounds over time.

So take some time this week, go through each question, and find your own answer:

How are you, really?