I was listening to a podcast by Rob Dial of Mindset Mentor and came across a very thought-provoking episode. The episode titled, “Does Your Life Pass the Test?” offered insightful feedback on where I’m thriving and lacking – using his CRIPES Method.
If you haven’t heard of Rob Dial, you will after this article. He offers tangible tips and insights in the personal development sphere.
An added bonus, his episodes are pretty short and easy to digest (perfect for a gal on the go).
As I was listening to this episode, I decided to take an inventory of my own life. I know it’s a hard time in the world in general and it’s okay to lean into that too.
Ultimately, when you are ready to come back to the table and engage in your life – this is the place to start. It’s important to understand how our decisions ultimately impact our lives. It’s important to focus on what we can control.
With all that being said, I’d like to invite you to take an honest inventory of your life alongside me. No judgments and no blame.
Let’s keep it real here and be authentic in this exercise. The results might shock you and that’s okay. Ultimately, if you are here, reading a blog like this, you are on a growth journey anyway. Part of growth is holding yourself accountable and calling yourself out on the BS.
Let’s start by understanding the different categories that encompass this.
Rob Dial calls this “CRIPES” which stands for: Career, Relationship, Intellectual, Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual.
How to use Rob Dial’s CRIPES Method for yourself
As I’m going over each one, take out a pen and paper (unless you are a math pro and can calculate in your head). You are going to rate each category from 1-10. 1 would obviously be super unfulfilled/miserable/unhappy and 10 being you are thrilled, overjoyed, and exactly where you want to be.
Career
How do you feel about your career? Are you happy with your current job? Do you love showing up to work? What would you rate your career?
Relationships
Romantic/friendships/etc. These are the people in your life who you spend time with. How are those doing relationships doing? Are you happy with your partner and the quality of your friendships? What would you rate your relationships?
Intellectual
How is your personal development doing? How many books have you read or content consumed to further yourself? What would you rate yourself intellectually?
Physical
How do you feel? Do you keep a consistent workout schedule? How is your diet? Are you hitting your health + fitness goals? What would you rate yourself physically?
Emotional
How do you feel daily? What is your overall mood like typically? What would you rate yourself emotionally?
Spiritually
How do you connect with yourself? How often do you meditate or practice yoga? Whatever spirituality means to you, do you invest time into it? What would you rate yourself spiritually?
Now, let’s add up everything.
Take the number from each category and add it up (for example: 5+5+5+5+5+5= 30). Then, take that number and divide it by 6 (since we have six categories). So, it should look like 30/6 = 5.
Move the decimal over one spot to the right. In this example, you would get 50%. This is an F for example (A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69, F=59 and below).
So, what does your score look like? Are you happy with the number you got?
Take a look at what you just graded your life. I will share that I currently graded myself at a 43%. There are some areas of my life I have been neglecting. I hope you were honest with yourself in this activity.
An important message that Rob talks about during the episode for the CRIPES Method is taking a good hard look at that grade. It’s nothing to feel bad over but more so to note that this is it. This is your one life. Is that the grade you want to give this one life?
Luckily, not all is lost. You can improve if you want to.
Where to begin? Let’s begin right at this moment. Take that pen and paper and for each category list one thing you can do to improve for the next 30 days. I’ll provide an example below.
A month from now, grade yourself again. If you are even one letter grade up, that’s a huge improvement. It’s not about striving for perfection but being the best and happiest version of yourself.
Sample:
Career = schedule time to figure out how to use a task management software so I’m spending less time on misc. admin tasks that aren’t moving me forward.
Relationship = schedule in a rotating date night every Friday with a spouse and calendar in time with close friends beginning of the month.
Intellectual = Read 10 pages of a self-development book.
Physical = Commit to a workout program for five times a week for 30 minutes.
Emotional = Invest in a hobby once per week that brings me joy.
Spiritual = Take five minutes in the morning to meditate and journal.
If you liked this activity, I recommend checking out the Mindset Mentor podcast for similar content.
Reminder – you got this, you are powerful, and you are super capable. Go after all the things that light your heart up on fire. If not now, when?
Did you do the CRIPES method along with us? What was your experience?
