CHOOSING A PATH TO MORE WELL-BEING

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“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.” —Virginia Woolf

START HERE

Many of us enjoy completing self-assessment questionnaires like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), StrengthsFinder, and others. They help us recognize and maximize our gifts while also helping us learn how to minimize our weaknesses. They encourage self-exploration, contain no right or wrong answers, and are judgment-free. Like GPS systems, they show us where we are and provide direction for where we want to go. Their easy-to-use methods foster our growth and self-development.

In contrast, health assessments—commonly known as Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)—are designed to focus on finding problems and vulnerabilities. HRAs compare the participant’s responses and measurements to external criteria and standards to assess risks and provide feedback. In most cases, HRA results are more useful for determining an intervention or treatment than for providing the insight needed for self-development, growth, or building and sustaining health and well-being.

Fortunately, as we’ve seen with the MBTI and other exploratory self-assessments, one of the easiest ways to change this is for the health assessment to be focused on capabilities—embodied attributes like attitudes, knowledge, and skills—that are primarily influenced by the participant’s desires and actions and strengthened by learning and practice. These examples help us recognize that using a similar self-exploratory and judgement-free approach in health assessments may provide an attractive alternative to the limiting approaches of existing health risk- assessment methods.

FROM VULNERABILITIES TO CAPABILITIES   

Self-exploration can be a useful way to identify levels of health-building mastery and provide guidance for reaching higher levels. By focusing on our capacity for building health, the assessment would help us evaluate our knowledge and beliefs about health; identify our level of skills mastery; and reveal the consistency of health-building practices in our daily routines.

The findings would guide us on whether our health-building stage was at the level of an Explorer, Learner, or Master as illustrated in the diagram below. Although any activity at any of the levels is beneficial, the diagram also illustrates how abilities mastered at one level form a foundation for mastery at the next higher level.

 WALKING THE PATH TOGETHER

Many participants find this approach empowering and inspiring. Knowing our health-building level boosts our ability to envision the higher level of health we’d like to enjoy and provides us with a realistic path for attaining it. This comprehensive, integrated, and systematic path enhances the effectiveness of our efforts and enables anyone who follows it to prosper.

The path is made even more powerful when—guided by enthusiastic experts—like-minded others join and travel it together. The High Health Network makes choosing this path easy. If you or your company want connection, belonging, and extraordinary health-building approaches, contact us for a free consultation.

Joyce M. Young, MD, MPH
Managing Director, Advanced Wellness Systems
Lead Expert for the High Health Network

 Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels

“The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.” —John Dewey

Sincerely,

Your colleagues at Advanced Wellness Systems