Strategies For Life Satisfaction Scale

0 = I do not use this strategy at all.

2 = I use this strategy only a little.

4 = I use this strategy some, but not very much.

6 = I use this strategy moderately often or pretty much.

8 = I use this strategy highly often or to a high extent.

10 = I use this strategy extremely often or to a very high extent.

Good Relationships

_____1 I have good relationships, where people know each other well, treat each other kindly, speak respectfully, help and have fun with each other, have interesting chats, and solve disagreements without getting too upset.

_____2 I get a lot of pleasure from good social conversations, and do so often.

_____3 When disagreements occur with other people, I think rationally about them without getting too upset.

_____4 I make smart decisions about whom to cultivate friendships with.

_____5 I’m able to tolerate it when someone doesn’t like me or approve of me.

Goals, and Progress Toward Them

_____6 I identify goals that I strongly wish to accomplish.

_____7 I choose major goals that are “worthy” ones: they have to do with accomplishing something really worthwhile rather than something frivolous and trivial.

_____8 I set goals that are neither too easy nor too difficult for me, but in the zone where my effort can pay off.

_____9 I find some way of measuring or monitoring my own progress toward my goals, and I congratulate myself for every bit of progress that I make.

_____10 I choose some very central goals that concern ways of helping other people to be happy.

Pleasant Activities

_____11 I identify activities to do for fun, and I get lots of fun out of them.

_____12 I avoid feeling guilty about doing some things just for the fun of them.

_____13 I cultivate some fun activities I enjoy doing alone.

_____14 I cultivate some fun activities I enjoy doing with other people.

Regular Sleep Rhythms

_____15 I stay aware of the usefulness of regular sleep rhythms and of keeping biological clocks set steadily.

_____16 I use the four ways of setting or maintaining sleep rhythms: (being in or out of bed, light, exercise, eating.)

_____17 I keep sleep rhythms regular enough that I am pleasantly tired at bedtime and go to sleep easily.

_____18 I keep sleep rhythms regular enough that I am refreshed after a night’s sleep, do not have a hard time waking up, and feel energetic upon arising.

Bright Light

_____19 If my mood or energy level is low, I experiment with various lengths of exposure to bright light as a way of helping myself feel better.

_____20 If I have found that bright light improves my mood, I am continuing to use it.

Exercise

_____21 I get enough physical exercise each day that I am quite tired at bedtime.

_____22 I have found at least one form of physical exercise that I really enjoy.

Diet

_____23 I keep up with what evidence tells us about the relationship between diet and mood.

_____24 I eat what I consider to be a really healthy diet.

Self-talk

_____25 I have become consciously aware of what I say to myself.

_____26 I am very familiar with the twelve types of thoughts, and I recognize when I am using them.

_____27 When I awfulize, get down on myself, or blame someone else, I avoid overdoing it or overgeneralizing.

_____28 I do the twelve-thought exercise.

_____29 I have the experience of choosing which thought would be most useful for me and using it, in addition to thinking by reflex habit.

_____30 I sometimes have the experience of consciously deciding to move from awfulizing, getting down on myself, or blaming someone else, to a different type of thought.

_____31 I practice using the four thought exercise to cultivate a reflex way of responding to problem situations.

_____32 I use some form of the celebrations exercise to help myself celebrate positive or favorable situations.

_____33 I refer to a list of psychological skills, and images of positive examples of each of them, to help myself not forget any important ones of my own good choices to celebrate.

Self-Monitoring

_____34 I check in with myself to evaluate how happy or unhappy I am at various moments, so that I can scientifically discover more about what situations, and which of my own responses, make my mood go up or down.

_____35 When I discover situations or responses that make my mood go up or down, I make use of this learning (for example by trying to get into a good situation more often, by increasing the use of a good response, by trying to get out of a bad situation, by practicing a “steb revision” with an unwanted response, etc.)

The Effort-Payoff Connection

_____36 I arrange things so that I often feel a strong connection between the effort I’m putting out, and some sort of payoff that I want to get.

_____37 I avoid having all of my effort go to things that I feel make no difference or are pointless.

Talking About Problems

_____38 When there are things that bother me, there is at least one person that I can talk with about these things.

_____39 I can talk and think about my own mistakes and failures and shortcomings without letting shame get in the way of the problem-solving process.

_____40 I think that when people work together on a problem that one person has, this is a good way for people to connect with one another.

_____41 As I talk and think about problems, I remember the twelve thoughts and try to use the thoughts that are most useful.

Cheerful Actions

_____42 There are times when I can successfully use the strategy of acting the part of a cheerful person and letting my mood eventually catch up to my behaviors.

Not Getting Rewarded for Feeling Bad

_____43 I stay aware of the possible ways in which people can get rewarded for feeling bad.

_____44 If there are rewards for feeling bad that seem to be coming my way, I try to minimize them.

Good Decisions

_____45 I figure out how high the stakes are for various choices I get to make, so that I can avoid wasting too much effort on the small stakes ones and invest enough effort into the higher stakes ones.

_____46 I use systematic ways of thinking about important decisions, including defining my goal, getting information, listing options, predicting consequences, weighing advantages and disadvantages, and so forth.

_____47 I cultivate the attitude that making good decisions is a fun and challenging and exciting activity, and I try to enjoy the decision-making process even when things are tough.

_____48 In situations where things are not going to come out perfectly no matter what I do, I cultivate the attitude that I have succeeded and deserve to celebrate when I make a choice that seems to work better (or even, less badly) than other choices would have.

_____49 When I make bad decisions, I take some comfort in the fact that I can learn from them for the future.

_____50 When I make good decisions, I try to a) analyze what I did right in the decision process, and b) celebrate my choice.