Life's 4 Quadrant Framework

I am almost certain that at some point in your life, you’ve come across a form of literature titled something to the tune of “N things highly successful people do daily”, or “The X keys to true happiness”, or how about “These Y habits that will transform your life forever”. As long as information has prevailed in its accessibility and power, the publishing industry, both offline and online, has been inundated by myriad self-help, self-improvement, and “achieving success” titles. An ever-intensifying race to the top of the technological and economic pyramid has left businessmen, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and artists alike exhausted, burned out, and in desperate need of serenity, cleansing, and meaning. Most have been leaning more and more towards a meaningful and fulfilling life away from the constant cut-throat competition.

I am all about helping people – don’t get me wrong. Though, I seem to have a problem with these frameworks we see, especially ones with more than 4 categories. They are difficult to recall, incredibly difficult to simply implement and often don’t connect with me. So, I decided to share my 4-quadrant framework which is fully customizable to be relevant to you. I first heard about these quadrants upon reading a spirituality and mindful-living book recently.

Every individual, at any given time, is on an odyssey to accomplish a goal that is most important to him or her at that moment. This may range from a career journey to landing a job at a dream firm. It may be a physical journey to gaining 10lbs and becoming more fit or an emotional journey to healing old traumas. You may wonder, couldn’t a person be on multiple odysseys at once, based on the concept I explained? No. I began this paragraph by explaining that this odyssey pertains only to the most important goal one defines. Recall when you were applying to your dream school. I agree you may still be maintaining good relationships, partying or spending immense amounts of your time with friends or watching tv shows, but those are not top of your mind. Thus, you are not on a journey to do the aforementioned. You are on a journey to secure an education at your dream school.

I want you to take a moment to reflect. Answer the following questions:

Are you currently on a journey? What kind of journey is it? Emotional, career, physical? Do you feel like you’ve just started this journey or have been on it for some time now? Is it difficult?

Hopefully, by now the idea of the Odyssey is clear to you. Let’s move onto the second component in this model: the 4 Quadrants. A nice characteristic of the 4 Quadrants is that it is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, so you can rest assured that every possible issue is covered. The idea is simple: every journey falls into 1 of the 4 quadrants: physical, mental, financial/career, relationships. Some may argue that there are a few that are missing: what about spirituality (which itself is an umbrella term), happiness and philanthropy? Except for philanthropy, which I would put into the career category, the rest broadly fall into the mental quadrant personally. Spiritual well-being and happiness go hand in hand and all impact or involve the mind.

This is a theoretical construct that is normative, not prescriptive. Now, what in the world does that mean? It simply means you shouldn’t expect this framework to help you achieve great success directly. It is not like “the 5 steps you need to become a millionaire”. In essence, treat the 4 quadrants like a diagnostic of your life. An illustrative example of your life. For example, for someone named Nathaniel, the 4 Quadrants reveal he’s in a stable, well paying, 9-5 pm, respected job with great potential for progression, maintains great relationships with loved ones and overall, he is content with the life he is living. Yet, over the years, he has not been taking care of his physical health. So, his odyssey may be in the physical quadrant, more specifically, to foster a healthier lifestyle by eating healthier and going to the gym 3-4 times a week.

Each individual is on their own journeys, myself included. Being cognizant of this reality allows us to not only strive to do better and be better but enables us to forgive ourselves when we’ve disappointed by not “meeting the bar” in one aspect of life, and instills sympathy in us towards others who are on their journeys, dealing with unique sets of circumstances and constraints.