SuccessDrive

What is success? Well, everyone sees success in a different way.

Ever wondered why some people who seem to have it all just aren't happy? That's possibly because while YOU might think they're successful, they don't.

Here are some initial thoughts about success. GO!

Here are some facts and stats  about success. GO!

What is success- it’s different for different people.  See some options.  GO!

See what Richard Branson has said about success. GO!

See how visualising your goals can help them happen. GO!

See how important setting your goals is in becoming successful.  GO!

See what can make us succeed or fail in achieving our objectives.  GO!

See 11 tips that can help you become successful.  GO!

See some things that can make us fail.  GO!

Seewhat Einstein thought about success.  GO!

If you’re a visitor to our site you can join and download information, assess your own health and create your own action plans, and even contribute to our site.  GO!

We have a video and testimonials. GO!

See what next steps you can take. GO!

We have some additional information and stuff on this subject. GO!

Some Initial Thoughts About Success

success jumping

Success can be defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Being successful means the achievement of desired visions and planned goals. Furthermore, success can be a certain social status that describes a prosperous person that could also have gained fame for its favorable outcome. The dictionary describes success as the following: “attaining wealth, prosperity and/or fame”

What does success mean to you? In SuccessDrive we give many different views of what success is, to many different people. .

If you live to 110 without serious ailment, have raised children who are healthy and happy individuals, and your community has benefitted from your presence, is that success?

Facts About Success

from the Social Mobility survey

times
1

1,000 TIMES is how often Colonel Sanders’ ‘Secret Recipe’ was rejected before it was added to a restaurant menu

of the population
1 %

10% POPULATION feel their lives were a success. (Medium.com)

of people
1 %

50% PEOPLE believe that where you end up in life is determined by your background and parents

note
$ 1

$1,000 NOTE if Bill Gates dropped one it wouldn’t be worth picking it up, as he would have made more money in the time it took!

person showing success

So what is success?

When you Google images of success it shows images of people climbing mountains, sportspeople punching the air, business leaders showing growth. Is this really true? If you don’t excel at sport or you’re not a striving business person then the success club is not for you? In reality Mr/Mrs/Ms Average aren’t top flight business people or might hate sport. But does that make them unsuccessful if they achieve their own personal goals in life?.

Life isn’t like this at all. Try saying to the person who at 55, surrounded by gold and wealth, is dying of cancer, that they were successful. They would reply: “No I’m not. I’m 55 and should live to 90”. They add: “I’ve strived all my life, made family sacrifices to build a business, neglected myself, my body and my friends but I have surrounded myself with short-term materialism to satisfy my ego. Now that I reflect I would give up my wealth to live”.

So is success about being wealthy, owning masses of property, employing people, living in a sunny climate, been able to buy designer clothes and jewellery, fast cars, privately educated children etc?

success go get it

OR is it living a happy healthy lifestyle, living in a moderate house, happy and contented children, contributing to your community, comfortable living etc?. Well, the reality is success is variable and depends who you talk to.

Definition of success in life [Oxford Dictionary]: the fact that you have achieved something that you want and have been trying to do or get; the fact of becoming rich or famous or of getting a high social position.

But is this what we are led to believe is success, or is It the first paragraph in this section, which makes no reference to fame, wealth or social status?

Let’s look at it in scientific terms: we are born, have one life (with no dress rehearsal), we grow, we become an adult, we have children, we live, we get old, we die. Simple. This wonderful planet we live on is beautiful but do we really appreciate it? Whilst on our own personal crusade do we ever give anything back? Rushing forward to our deathbed and looking back, do we think: “Wow was that a ball, can I have another go!” Or do we think: “I could have done more for others, for the environment, given something back, made a difference to other people or animals”?

Richard Branson quote

Richard Branson said:

Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are."

83% of the population does not have goals
14% have a plan in mind, but unwritten goals
3% have goals written down

[BiggerPockets.com]

3 successful people

Visualizing your goals happening is even better

For example, here are three famous people who harnessed the power of visualization:

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was always stressing the importance of seeing himself victorious long before the actual fight.

As a struggling young actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. He even wrote a check out to himself for 10 million dollars when he was not popular, and dated it for many years in the future. Memo line: for acting services. During an interview many years later, he shared how it actually came true!.

Former professional basketball player Michael Jordan always took the last shot in his mind before he ever took one in real life.

richard branson quote re journey

Goals are a journey not a destination.

To be a success in whatever you do you need to have a roadmap of how to get there. Once you have identified that roadmap you need to add what will stop you achieving your goals.:

• According to the University of Scranton, a whopping 92% of people who set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them
• People who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish them.
• Most people claim to understand the importance of goal setting in order to attain a better life, but in fact approximately 80% of people never set goals for themselves.
• Even more surprising, of the 20% of the population that does set goals, roughly 70% fail to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.

try fail try again succeed

What makes us succeed or fail?

The first question is: if imagery and words connected to success revolve around business and sport, but most people don’t fit into those categories, how can they perceive themselves as successful? Most forms of success come from a person doing something different, changing something in their life, focusing on a specific thing or area. Success often does not happen overnight and requires dedication, commitment and determination to succeed..

So, in a nutshell, is it a human trait to be successful? Well statistics prove it’s not, with 92% failing to achieve simple new year’s resolutions, and 83% failing to set goals or ambitions. Only 12% of people achieve their long-term goals.

It is fair to say there are three types of people in life:
People who make things happen
People who watch things happen
People who wonder what happened

Some may say it’s background, culture, upbringing, social environment that determine which type you are.

EXAMPLE

A lady who had little education and came from a middle class background, struggled at school. When she left school, she worked in several low paid jobs.

One day she decided to start making hats and quickly started selling them on a market stall. She got married and got pregnant. 3 children later she felt she needed to achieve something in life.

Whilst still raising children she went to college and studied to be a nurse. After qualifying she commenced her nursing career. She also helped and specialised in elderly care, and became a local councillor. She wanted to raise awareness about elderly care across her county. She worked tirelessly to raise awareness of poor standards of care in elderly homes. She raised her family, worked hard and created a comfortable lifestyle.

She bought a caravan and a piece of land in which she built a pond and garden and cultivated a few trees. She loved to sit on an evening and weekend with a glass of wine and contemplate her life.

When she passed away with great grandchildren around her she said she felt she had had a blessed life. Raised a family in difficult times, she cried, she laughed, it was not always easy but overall she was happy. She left elderly care in people’s minds and created a little piece of her soul with the land she bought. Was she a success? She sure was!!!!

Guaranteed success tips

Here are 11 things specifically that 86% percent of us do not do but really should:.

Studies show that 20 minutes of sleep in the afternoon provides more rest than 20 minutes more sleep in the morning (though the last two hours of morning sleep have special benefits of their own). The body seems to be designed for this, as most people’s bodies naturally become more tired in the afternoon, about 8 hours after we wake up.

If you only have 5 minutes to spare, just close your eyes; even a brief rest has the benefit of reducing stress and helping you relax a little, which can give you more energy to complete the tasks of your day. But don't confuse a brief rest with microsleep.

When someone introduces you to another person, develop a network. You never know who you will work with in the future.

Successful people are usually passionate and determined people. 
Read, learn and gain knowledge, the brightest people are always learning.

In order to stay effective and energetic, health has to be a top priority. Otherwise, you will go through life with less kick each day. The best people also make no excuses for their health.

Ambiguity is difficult. When the path is not spelled out, it means that you have to make more challenging decisions. The top 1 percent of people love ambiguity. It gives them an opportunity to be creative and stand out from those around them.

If you cannot look back six months and see a drastically different person, then you are not growing fast enough. This is especially true early in life.

Goal setting is underrated. Most people do not take the time because they do not think it is a worthwhile endeavour.

then identify the things that will stop you achieving them, and make a plan to reduce their impact

It’s not just about surrounding yourself with other successful people, it’s about surrounding yourself with positivity. Can doers, as opposed to those cannot doers, cup half full people and not half empty people. Grounded people who will tell you as it is, not what you want to hear. Aspirers have an internal locus of control not an external one (see Locus of Control).

Persistence is also very underrated. It is easy to work out one time or to send a few emails. It is also easy to take on an 80-hour week once. Pushing yourself consistently, though, is an extreme challenge. It is where 99 percent of people fail.

Successful people do not spend their lives living other people’s dreams. They pursue their own passions. That gives them the energy to attack each day with all that they have. It also allows them to think more independently. After getting over the fact that you cannot please everyone and that you have to think for yourself, life becomes a lot better.

Many people blame others for their shortcomings. Doing so might have immediate benefits, but it is detrimental in the long run. Neglecting accountability prevents personal growth and, over time, it develops a bad reputation for yourself.

The best people take full responsibility for their actions. This garners more respect and allows them to grow at much faster rates.

failure is part of success

Things that can cause us to fail

Fear of success and/or failure

Some people are afraid they will fail or, even worse, that they may actually succeed.

Below we list some of the things that can cause you to fail.

Many people mistakenly believe that goal setting simply means putting a goal on paper, setting a date for completion, marking off checkpoints as they occur and then starting all over again.

Setting a goal is really about changing yourself for the long-term. Goals aren’t short-term, quick-fix things. They are fixed and immovable destinations that show the world who you want to become or what you want to achieve.

Even though some people state they want to achieve a certain goal, in truth they’re really not committed to it. Because of this lack of commitment, they don’t give the act of goal attainment their full effort. Along the journey there will be obstacles and people who get in your way. Determination means you don’t lose sight of the end game.

After setting a goal, writing down dates and setting checkpoints, some people stop. They never actually take that first step needed to progress towards their goal. But realise that if you don’t get started you can’t go anywhere. Without action, nothing happens. When we have come home from a hard day at work, we eat, we sit and watch TV or chat with friends, we get relaxed and tired and then don’t have the self-will to get up and do something.

Many people let questions and doubts paralyze them. They believe they can’t start on a goal until they have all the answers to every “what if” scenario. However, no matter how long and hard you prepare, you will never have all the answers to the questions you ask.

People often begin setting goals without a solid vision of who they want to become or what they ultimately want to achieve. They procrastinate and put off developing the vision into a passion.

While many people understand the basics of goal setting, they don’t detail the restrainers that will stop them achieving their goals. Moreover, they fail to mitigate the risk. In other words, they know what is likely to stop them achieving, but don’t take action to reduce or stop the restrainer. Have you ever chatted with someone who has failed to do something? There is a plethora of excuses why not.

Some people have too many goals and not enough focus. It’s easy to write down goals but if you have insufficient time to achieve them then everything fails. How do you eat an Elephant? One piece at a time. Build on your goals and resist going too big to start with. If you fail, get up and start again but always keep your vision or passion in mind.

Life is not easy and neither is changing your life. Talk to anyone who has made a success and they will tell you it was hard work and I got kicked or knocked down so many times but I believed in what I was doing and just didn’t give up.

Many people are simply satisfied with what they have and where they are in life. As such, they don’t explore what else is available or what greater things they could achieve. Research tells us that there are only two motivating factors that cause people to change: pain and pleasure.

And even if someone is feeling pain in a situation, that pain may not be great enough, or he or she is simultaneously receiving ample pleasure, so the person doesn’t strive for more. Change and goal attainment only happen when you’re ready to break the status quo and truly want something better in life.

So, the reality of life is: there are people who make things happen. There are those who watch things happen and occasionally venture into the “make things happen area” if the pain or pleasure is strong enough/ Then there are the couch potatoes in life who are happy and contented with their lives and don’t want to over-think things. One thing is for sure the world needs all kinds of people to make it go around.

Successful people do not spend their lives living other people’s dreams. They pursue their own passions. That gives them the energy to attack each day with all that they have. It also allows them to think more independently. After getting over the fact that you cannot please everyone and that you have to think for yourself, life becomes a lot better.

Many people blame others for their shortcomings. Doing so might have immediate benefits, but it is detrimental in the long run. Neglecting accountability prevents personal growth and, over time, it develops a bad reputation for yourself.

The best people take full responsibility for their actions. This garners more respect and allows them to grow at much faster rates.

albert einstein quote

Success is different for everyone

The reality is everyone has different successes. We are on this earth once, no dress rehearhsal and no second chance. We owe it to ourselves to make the best of what life can bring us.

If success to you is owning your own home and growing vegetables and living a peaceful and stressless life then that’s a success. Equally if you get a kick out of buying materialistic things then go for it. Doing nothing at all is a waste of life.

For visitors

Why don't you join us?

You can register to join us as a member, when you’ll be able to download our stuff and comment, or as a YouDriver when you’ll also be able to check your health and set up your own action plans to make some improvements.  If you’ve already registered, sign in below. Or let us know what you think.

The Secret to Success: It's Not What You Think

Have you ever wondered what exactly it is that successful people have in common? In this motivating, heartfelt talk, Kim reveals the key to achieving success — and how any person can acquire it. Drawing upon powerful experiences from her personal and professional life, Kim Perell explains how the secret to success isn’t being the smartest or the luckiest — it’s being resilient, failing forward, and staying strong in the face of challenges.

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.”
Joe Girard
Most successful car salesman

Next Steps

It doesn’t matter what stage  you’re at – it’s important to be the best you can be.  At the end of the day it’s about taking personal responsibility – You Drive!

It’s really your choice. You can find out more information about the subject, or see other institutions that can help by going to Support. There you will find organisations, training, coaching, self-help courses and other items to support your personal change. We have also started developing a panel of experts to provide info, advice, help and support. 

Get Support

There are times when you need some help to meet your aims –  a helping hand. That might be  an organisation that can provide you with some help,  some specialised information, a particular book or tool to help, or just getting some background reading material.

We have a lot of items which appear on our Drives and other pages, which you can go to by clicking on the picture or link.  Some contain affiliate links and we may receive a tiny commission for purchases made through these links.

If you know of anything which could help you or our other visitors then please click the button on the right, which will take you to a Contacts page where you contact us.

Experts

We are compiling a list of experts who can provide advice, help or specialised services.  You will be able to access these experts from anywhere on our site you see our ‘Experts’ symbol.  Click the green E to see what our Experts list will look like, with a couple of imaginary ‘experts’ added!

More Information

Scroll down to see more information on this Drive. 

If you register you can also download reports, white papers, quizzes and other collaterals.  We will never ask you for any financial information, and we’ll only send you the information you want. You can register for our site either above or in the footer below.  You can provide your own questions and experiences in order to help other members.  We only moderate for spam and inflammatory language – see our moderation policy.

If you’ve found this interesting, then please share it on social media.  Choose your network!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Telegram
WhatsApp
Email

More information

The Philadelphia Trumpet has an interesting article on success, and what constitutes real success – well worth a read

LifeHack have an article on redefining the meaning of success here

Verywellmind have an article setting out 6 steps for success in life here

Brian Tracy is a world renowned public speaker and his website has a section covering success – personal success as well other types of success

By entering your email address, you can download Brian Tracy’s 14 step goal setting guide, which sets out how you can set goals and achieve success – you can download it here.

Herbert W Armstrong’s famous  leaflet sets out seven laws of success – this is what’s referred to in the Trumpet article above – you can download it here.

Stuff you might want regarding success

Now you’ve read about success you might want to make a bit of a statement.  Have a look at some stuff below we think has some humour value!  We may make pennies on commission, but that’s not the point really.  Click on the image to see more details.

 

Men In Suits Sweats Business Life Motivation Quote Success T-Shirt

Many sizes, colours and styles

Go to Amazon

successful tee shirt

Believe In Yourself & You Will Be Unstoppable Success Goals T-Shirt

Go to Amazon

believe in yourself tee shirt

Quotable Mug – Life Begins at The end of Your Comfort Zone, Neale Donald Walsch.

Go to Amazon

life begins mug

Five Rules to Remember in Life – Novelty Gift Mug

Go to Amazon

5 rules mug

All areas of health are interlinked

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Find your initial focus

You might think that physical, financial and mental health are quite separate, and for some people they are. However, often a problem in one area has a knock-on effect on others. Losing your job can lead to anxiety and depression, which can turn you to drink and impact your health.

You might have a severe issue in one area but that can lead to problems in other areas, and the people treating you for the first problem won’t be equipped to deal with these linked issues.

For example, doctors and nurses can treat you for a physical problem but can’t advise you about your job or finances.  Nor for the anxiety that comes with it, apart from prescribing some drugs, which might or might not be the best solution.

We encourage you to take a holistic view – we look at all areas and offer support across the whole spectrum.

health areas interlinked

Even this view of health is simplistic, as you’ll discover later if you go down that route.  You might want to consider overall health, or wellness or wellbeing, which include additional types of health, such as occupational health (how you are in your job).   Then there’s happiness and quality of life – how do these fit?

If you’re interested in that, click the link here to see more information.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

An Intentional Life

A Guide To A Slower And More Peaceful Existence

The day goes by in a blur, one blink and you miss it. You sit wondering how you got to this point, did you make all of the decisions that got you here knowingly?
Go to Amazon

intentional life book

The Vantage Chronicles

Real stories of success, failure and everything in between, from entrepreneurs you can relate to

The Vantage Chronicles is a business book with a difference, featuring interviews with eleven outstanding entrepreneurs, from Harley Street’s Lesley Reynolds to England and Aston Villa defender, Tyrone Mings

Go to Amazon

vantage chronicles book

Making A Difference In Life

Simple things to nurture and strengthen you as you make extraordinary changes in life

Making A Difference In Life is basically organized into a series of fundamental and inspirational quotes that will motivate you from where you once were to a new you.

Go to Amazon

making a difference book

The 10 C’s of Success

Success Is a Journey, Not a Destination

Anyone of us could easily look-up the definition of success: Success (n): the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. However, figuring out how to achieve everything that definition could encompass is a far greater feat. Luckily, The 10 C’s of Success provides an invaluable guide to help any individual, in all walks of life, seek success and gain more value in their life.

Go to Amazon

10cs of success

What is Success?

In a society where success can be summed up on a checklist, here are some words of encouragement. There are little successes that we complete every single day of our lives. When we grow as a person, push past difficulties, and even create time to be a good friend we are building upon our success.

Go to Amazon

what is success book

Health Areas in Domains

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Domains

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains. 

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area. You can create your own Action Plan to address this area, and see

Emotional: Anxiety, Compassion Fatigue, Depression, Gambling, Laughter, Narcissistic, Personality Disorder, Sleep, Stress

Environmental: Environmental Issues, Greenness

Financial: Debt, Family Finance, Financial Planning, Financial Wellness

Intellectual: IQ, Personality, Procrastination

Occupational: Jobs for Different Personality Types, Retirement Income, Work Life Balance

Physical: Alcohol, Disabilities, Dizziness, Drugs, Fitness, Food Preferences, General Health, Healthy Ageing, Illness, Nutrition, Sleep Apnea, Smoking

Social: Communication Skills, Communication Styles, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Love Partnerships, Mental Abuse, Parenting Styles, Sexual Addiction

Spiritual: Are You Sensitive, Mystical Guidance, Spirituality

Each health area has supporting information and its own questionnaire.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Understand Health

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Physical, financial and mental health

One definition of health is:

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. 

The NHS define health as: ‘We use a broad definition of health that encompasses both physical and mental health, as well as wellbeing. This means we are not only interested in whether or not people are ill or have a health condition, but also in how healthy and well they are.’

We believe we also have to consider financial health, as this can easily impact physical and mental health. Click the button to see an example of how these are connected.

 It gets more complicated…

What is Health? How about Wellness, Wellbeing or Happiness?

The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) define Health as a state of the overall mental and physical state of a person; the absence of disease. They define Wellbeing or wellness as a way of life that aims to enhance well-being and refers to a more holistic whole-of-life experience which also includes emotional and spiritual aspects of life.  We expand on this definition of health to include financial health and mental health, to make it synonymous with wellbeing or wellness.  

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Health domains

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

We break down the overall concept of health or wellness into ‘bite-sized chunks’ that we can actually do something about.  The first level we call health domains.

We like the Life of Wellness site and we have chosen the following domains.

1. Emotional Wellness: Awareness and acceptance of feelings
2. Spiritual Wellness: A search for meaning and purpose
3. Intellectual Wellness: Recognition of your creativity, knowledge and skills
4. Physical Wellness: Need for physical activity and balanced nutrition
5. Environmental Wellness: Positive awareness and impact on your environment
6. Financial Wellness: Debt reduction, cash flow balance or financial future planning
7. Occupational Wellness: Personal achievement and enrichment from your career
8. Social Wellness: Contribution to your community

wellness wheel

Health Areas

Within each domain, we have included a number of health areas. These are specific issues that you can tackle.  Within each health area, e.g. Depression, once you have subscribed we have built additional information and exercises which you can do to help in the area.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

See which domains you should address

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Having established that we use 8 domains, you need to understand which you should concentrate on.

The 8 are:

  • Emotional
  • Environmental
  • Financial
  • Intellectual
  • Occupational
  • Physical
  • Social
  • Spiritual

 

You can take a questionnaire, which scores you in each domain.  You can decide which domains you are strong in, and which you need to improve.

Another analysis shows which domains you should look at, but also which domains you want to look at.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Locus of Control

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

  • We want to help people in all aspects of their health  – physical, financial and mental. We also provide detailed explanations of how overall health (or well-being) is measured.
  • We believe these things are often linked, so we try and address health holistically. We are building templates, questionnaires and exercises to help you identify what’s important to you.
  • We think people should try and take responsibility for  of their own health as much as they can.  See below for what that means.

People look at things differently.  Some people believe things happen to them, while others believe they can influence what happens to them. Technically this is called the ‘locus of control’.  People can have an Internal or external Locus of Control

So how do you see things?

Psychology Today have a 15 minute test which gives you a summary of your position you can buy the detailed results if you want to.

My Personality Test have a 10 minute test which gives you a summary.

People tend to take more responsibility (locus gets more internal) as they get older.  However, external isn’t always bad – for example if you are physically unable to do some things you can accept it and focus on the things you can do.  This American video explains the concept and gives examples of how this can affect relationships.

locus of control

Internal

  • More likely to take responsibility for actions
  • Tend to be less influenced by others

External

  • Blame outside forces for what happens
  • Don’t believe they can change their situation themselves

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Add your attitude to change - see how you view changes in your life

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

Do you need to change?

No matter how healthy you are at the moment, the chances are that there are some areas you could improve. It may be that you have a real problem in one or more areas, and you would like to make some improvements.

At YouDrive we accept that there are many different degrees of ‘not wellness’ in a large number of different health areas, ranging from physical illness such as covid-19 through mental illness such as anxiety through to financial problems like debt.  We try and help where the problem ranges from ‘slight’ to quite bad’ – after this expert help and intervention may be needed.

However, especially in these times, we have to try and make these changes ourselves, possibly with some help from others, whether remotely or face to face.

The thing is, to make an improvement we have to change some things.

This involves changing our behaviour in some respects, and that’s not always easy.

Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line, is quoted as saying “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.  

henry ford

Another way of looking at this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – attributed to Albert Einstein.

Consequently we need to make some changes.  The problem is that we have already developed a lot of habits, some of which we need to break and replace by better ones.  Some of our bad habits have become entrenched, and the bad results they create in turn engender further bad habits to develop – in effect the bad habits can feed on themselves.

We need to understand how we can make changes and stick to them, and that’s what this part of your health profile is about.

It will involve some learning, through reading, some videos and some additional information and also seeing how you react to change currently.

It will also ask you to consider whether you feel you are in charge of your future, or whether you feel it’s all fate.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Assess your overall health using a health questionnaire

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

At YouDrive we try and help people improve their health. We use ‘health’ but we understand there are other terms such as wellbeing or even happiness that reflect how we are doing in our lives – if you’re interested in the different definitions and ideas see our page on the subject.

We want to help whether you have a particular problem – physical, financial or mental – or if you just want to improve some specific part of your life or just make some improvements overall.

You’d be surprised, but there has been a serious amount of scientific work done in this area over the last twenty years.

So first we allow you to assess your current health (or wellbeing, or happiness).  We do this by questionnaire.  Which one is determined by the type of person you are:

  1. You understand yourself well and want a quick overview of your health and wellness, and will drill down in any areas needing work
  2. You want to do a more detailed assessment and then focus on areas you’re already aware of
  3. You want to look at the whole situation in more detail across all the health domains.

By the way, we take your privacy seriously – we collect information that you choose to provide but we de-identify it as much as possible and will never share it with anyone without your explicit consent.

You can then drill down into some specific areas and there are more questionnaires to see your situation in these particular areas.  We provide you with specific information and refer you to other potential aspects of help. Our next step is to build a personalised action plan – for now we will make a suggestion for you to develop your own plan and then after a time you can see whether this has had a positive impact by retaking the test.

In future we will be engaging with medical and behavioural specialists to devise action plans for individual people with specific situations.

We have an overall questionnaire which you can complete which will assess your current state.

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

You need to scroll down to see all the info in this popup – sorry for going on so much!

We all have our beliefs, attitudes and values – these have developed throughout our life based on who we are and what we have done. Let’s look at what these are.

The University of Reading explain: “People’s values, beliefs and attitudes are formed and bonded over time through the influences of family, friends, society and life experiences. So, by the time you’re an adult, you can hold very definite views on just about everything with a sense of “no one is going to change my mind”.

The combination of your personal values, beliefs and attitudes are your moral principles that guide you in life and affect your behaviour. However, your views can wildly differ to others and in an institution such as a school, these beliefs may be counter to the values of the school, child development or indeed the law.” 

Let’s look more closely at the differences between beliefs, attitudes and values.

Beliefs

These come from real experiences – we think our beliefs are based on reality, but in fact our beliefs colour our experiences; also, an original experience e.g. when we were a child is not the same as what’s happening now. Beliefs can be moral, religious or cultural and reflect who we are. They can be rational (‘it gets colder in winter’) or irrational (‘I am never going to make something of myself’).

Attitudes

This is an immediate belief or disposition about something specific. It is a recurring group of beliefs and behaviours aimed at specific groups, people, ideas or objects. They will normally be positive or negative and we will always behave that way to the target group. Examples of attitudes include confidence (I can or can’t do something), grateful (I an entitled to / grateful for XXX) and cheerful (I am generally happy / miserable).

Values

These are things (principles or qualities) that we hold in high regard or consider to be worthwhile or right / wrong. They are formed by a belief related to the worth of something – an idea or behaviour. Some values are common (e.g. family comes first, the value of friendship) or cultural (which the whole community have – see video at Study.com here)

The theory

Links to Wikipedia

Expectancy Value Theory suggests you balance your beliefs about something with the value you attach to it. The Theory of Reasoned Action suggests that beliefs and evaluation about behavioural outcomes determine attitudes, and intentions lead directly to behaviour.

Beliefs

Expressions of confidence – can change over time

Attitudes

Learned predispositions to something – are subject to change

Values

Ideals that guide our behaviour – Generally long lasting and often need life changing experience to change

Iceberg demonstrating implicit and explicit bias – from Owlcation

To close this box and go back click the X at the top or just click outside the box

A Butterfly Life: 4 Keys to More Happiness, Better Health and Letting Your True Self Shine

Times of change can be a challenge, no doubt! Whether it’s a relationship breakup, job loss, or being diagnosed with a serious health issue. Or you may WANT things to be different, but it feels a little scary or overwhelming. The butterfly reminds us change can be beautiful, even necessary, in order to realize our full potential and live our best life.