If you don’t have a clear definition of the good life, urgent work will hijack your week and you’ll keep postponing what actually matters until life forces a deadline. In this article, Jef Menguin shares a practical way to turn values into decisions using “Real, Beautiful, Good, Important” as a daily filter. Practice it once, then pass it to people at work so you build a culture that chooses meaning over noise.
People ask this question when life looks fine on paper but feels off in the body.
You’re doing the work. You’re paying the bills. You’re hitting goals. You’re even “winning.” But when you sit still, you feel a quiet discomfort. Like you’re living someone else’s life with your name on it.
That’s usually the moment you start asking: What does a good life mean to me?
For a long time, I tried to answer that question with big ideas. Big words. Big plans. But big answers don’t help when it’s Monday morning, I’m tired, my calendar is full, and someone wants a decision right now.
So I started keeping my definition simple.
A good life is built around four things: Real. Beautiful. Good. Important.
Not perfect. Not glamorous. Not always easy. But clear enough to use when it counts.
Real
“Real” means I’m not performing.
It means I’m telling the truth—especially to myself. It means I’m not living for applause, not chasing a version of success that looks impressive but feels hollow. Real is the courage to name what’s happening, even when the truth is inconvenient.
I’ve had seasons when more money was on the table, but the cost was my integrity. I can call it “opportunity.” I can call it “growth.” But when I know I have to bend my values to make it work, that’s not growth. That’s selling pieces of myself slowly.
A good life starts when I stop lying about what’s happening.
Here’s a simple “real” test I use: If no one will ever know what I chose, what would I do? That question removes the performance. It reveals the person.
Beautiful
“Beautiful” means I still have wonder.
Not the Instagram kind. Not the expensive kind. The everyday kind. The kind that reminds me I’m alive.
Beauty is sunlight hitting the floor in the morning. It’s a clean desk after a long week. It’s a good conversation with a friend where I laugh and forget to check my phone. It’s a quiet walk. It’s a song I play again because it makes me feel something.
A lot of people lose beauty because they’re practical. They’re responsible. They’re busy. They’re productive.
But when you remove beauty, life becomes a machine. And when life becomes a machine, people become tired, numb, or angry without knowing why.
Beauty doesn’t require a vacation. It requires attention.
So I ask: What’s one small beautiful thing I can notice or create today? A good life is often a series of small moments you don’t rush through.
Good
“Good” means my life makes other lives better.
This is where leadership shows up, even outside work. Good is how I treat people when I’m stressed. Good is how I speak when I have power. Good is how I correct someone’s mistake without crushing their dignity.
In the workplace, “good” is not just being nice. It’s doing what helps people grow. Sometimes that means encouragement. Sometimes that means clarity. Sometimes that means a hard conversation you’ve been avoiding.
I’ve met leaders who are “kind” in public but careless in private. I’ve also met leaders who look strict on the outside but protect people with their decisions. Good isn’t a personality. Good is a practice.
If you want one concrete “good” move this week, choose one person and make their work lighter. Remove a blocker. Give them a clearer decision. Teach them a tool. Advocate for them when they’re not in the room.
That’s leadership you can repeat.
Important
“Important” means I’m building what lasts.
This is the hardest one because “important” usually competes with “urgent.” And urgent always screams louder.
Important is my health. Important is my relationships. Important is my inner life. Important is the work that actually matters, not just the work that makes me look busy. Important is the thing I keep postponing because it doesn’t have a deadline—until life gives it one.
Sometimes “important” is also a decision to say no, even when saying yes would be easier.
There are commitments I can’t keep without becoming a smaller person.
There are projects that pay well but slowly steal my attention from the people I love. There are paths that look successful but lead me away from my own values. If I keep choosing those, one day I’ll wake up and realize: I won, but I lost.
So I ask: Will Future Me thank Present Me for this choice? If the answer is no, I pause.
The problem with definitions
A definition is easy to admire and hard to live.
You can nod at “Real, Beautiful, Good, Important” and still spend the whole week chasing approval, ignoring your body, avoiding hard conversations, and choosing the urgent over the meaningful.
So here’s one shift for me and you: A good life is not a belief you hold. It’s a filter you use.
You and I don’t need a perfect philosophy. We need a usable one.
That means bringing the definition into our daily decisions.
The Good Life Filter
Before you say yes to a plan, a project, a purchase, or a commitment, run it through these four questions.
Is it Real? Or am I performing to impress someone?
Is it Beautiful? Does it bring life, wonder, energy, or meaning—even in a small way?
Is it Good? Does it help people, strengthen relationships, or build character?
Is it Important? Will this matter a month from now? A year from now?
If something fails all four, it’s noise.
If something passes one or two, it might still be worth doing, but you do it with boundaries.
If something passes three or four, protect it. Put it on the calendar. Build your week around it.
This is how we make our values practical.
What this looks like in real life
Let me make this concrete.
A manager gets invited to a “visibility project.” It’s high-profile and looks good, but it requires politics, credit-grabbing, and half-truth reporting. The “Real” choice is to decline. The “Important” choice is to stay focused on work that actually helps the team and customers.
A parent is exhausted after work. The easy move is to scroll for an hour. The “Beautiful” move is a short walk outside or a quiet moment with music. The “Important” move is to sit with your kid for fifteen minutes and listen like you’re not in a hurry.
A leader sees a teammate make a mistake. The reactive move is to embarrass them to prove a point. The “Good” move is to correct clearly and privately, then coach them so it doesn’t happen again. You protect the work and the person.
These are not dramatic decisions. But they are life-shaping decisions.
How Life Circles and Work Circles fit
This is where I connect my definition to the tools I teach.
A lot of people try to live a good life with good intentions—but no map. So they drift. They keep saying “Next month,” “Pag okay na,” “Pag less busy na,” and nothing changes because there’s nothing guiding their choices.
That’s why I use Life Circles. It’s a simple way to see your life on one page. You’ll notice which areas are thriving and which ones are quietly neglected. It makes the invisible visible.
And because we’re professionals, we also need Work Circles. Your work is not separate from life. Work is where your time, energy, and identity get tested. If your work system is messy, your personal life pays the bill through stress, fatigue, and shortened patience.
Life Circles help you diagnose misalignment. Work Circles help you redesign the week so your values survive Monday.
If you want to practice “Real, Beautiful, Good, Important,” you don’t just need inspiration. You need structure.
A simple 10-minute weekly practice
Here’s something you can do today. Ten minutes. One page. No drama.
First, write one sentence: A good life for me means ______.
Then answer these three questions: What felt most real this week? What felt beautiful? What felt good and important?
Now pick one circle to protect for the next 30 days. Not nine. One. Choose the one that will change everything if it improves even slightly.
Then choose one small action you can do this week—something you can actually keep.
If you want this to be sustainable, your first action should take 5–10 minutes. That’s the sweet spot. Small enough to start. Real enough to count.
The shift I want you to try
Don’t turn the good life into a motivational quote.
Turn it into a filter. Use it before you say yes. Use it before you commit. Use it before you spend money. Use it before you give away your attention.
You don’t build a good life by thinking harder.
You build it by choosing better—one honest decision at a time.
So here’s your challenge for the next 24 hours: run one decision through the four words. Real. Beautiful. Good. Important.
Then act on what you learn.
If you’re tired of knowing but not doing…
Let’s make one shift easier to live daily.
→ Shift Experiences
