A map of well-being and traffic lights – tools for identifying factors of well-being
Well-being is a very broad concept and is understood by different people in a different way. Factors affecting well-being include nutrition, sleep, social relationships, exercise, rest and relaxation, and meaningful activities. Your well-being can be influenced by everyday choices, but sometimes it can be difficult to decide where to start.
In the Entrefox project, we are implementing well-being workshops for entrepreneurs over the age of 55, with the aim of finding ways to improve their own well-being and maintain working capacity. We have used the following simple way of working:
- Map of well-being
- Write or draw things that are important well-being factors for Where does your well-being come from?
- Well-being traffic lights
- What aspects of well-being are working well in your life? What needs development? Use colors to indicate the current situation.
- Green=the situation is in order, yellow=may need to be developed, red=the situation requires action.
- Well-being areas for the development
- Select the three areas you want to start developing.
- You can’t change everything at once, so it’s better to limit the number of goals.
- Measures to achieve the objectives
- Define actions for each goal. For example, how can you improve your sleep or time management?
- Various material and support can be found on the Website of the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health https://www.ttl.fi/en/
- Track your goals
- Set time targets and be sure to return to the goals later.
In addition to setting targets and measures, peer support has also been important in our workshops. It may be easier to identify own factors of well-being when you talk to someone else. It is also possible to motivate the community to meet the goals – it is easier to ignore the promises made to yourself.
The next group of Entrefox’s well-being will begin next year. Follow Entrefox’s website or contact us if you wish to join us.
Reetta Raitoharju
Turku University of Applied Sciences
reetta.raitoharju@turkuamk.fi