Yesterday I was bored waiting for my tires to be balanced & rotated at Costco, so to kill some time I decided to run a little social experiment that I had been meaning to do for a while. The experiment consisted of asking a single question, which I texted to almost everyone in my cell phone. The question was this:

Think- If you had to rate your life right now on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the WORST imaginable and 10 being the BEST, what would it be? Text me back -BD

Before I sent it out, I decided that my own answer would be a “7″ …pretty darn good, but not so much that it can’t improve in certain areas. In my mind, a “1″ would be defined as ultimate low, where life just could not possibly get any worse, save for death. On the other hand, I would imagine a “10″ being the ultimate perfect life, where nothing goes wrong, there are no regrets and no limitations. Both scenarios I would expect to be essentially impossible, but, hey, you never know. I was curious therefore, to see where other people would place their lives on a scale from 1-10. And so I sent the text to around 108 people. Of those, 62 responded back. Here is a histogram of the results, showing the number of responses for each category:

This survey turned out to be really interesting. Six people responded with a 10, while two responded with a 1. The mean and median were both 7, but the most popular response was 8.

Obviously, my idea of a 10 being 100% perfection was a little different from how some responded, but neither is right or wrong, the question was subjective.

I do wonder though, what it would take to bump up your rating one point. For example, what would one need to do to go from a 6 to a 7? Or from a 7 to an 8? I also wonder how one’s response would change over time, since it’s really dependent on current circumstances which constantly fluctuate. I want to try to ask this again, say, a year from now & see what differences there are.

Overall though, I gotta say, I must have some pretty happy friends! =D

1. Chill for a minute before you get out of your car and finish that song that’s playing.
2. Stare at the stars. Think about how big the universe is & how lucky you are to be here.
3. Without doing anything else, sit & listen to a song that you love in its entirety.
4. At random times & places throughout your day, stop & look at the scene in front of you as if it were a photograph or painting in a museum. What details would you notice? What would make it “beautiful?”
5. Play an instrument. Play whatever comes to you; don’t worry about if it sounds good or not.
6. Ignore conventions; love something that no one else loves, & be proud of it.
7. Forget worrying about what people think.
8. Find a good comic strip that always makes you laugh & read it often
9. Be honest with yourself. There is really nothing to lose.
10. Once you are honest with yourself, figure out your weaknesses. Either accept them, or improve.
11. Find the humor in unfavorable situations.
12. Cheer people up. It’s easy to do since so many people are stressed about things.
13. Always have a plan B, or a worst case scenario you can live with.
14. Listen to classical music.
15. Find answers to your questions. Unravel the mysteries of life.