Have you ever felt like different aspects of your life were out of sync? Maybe your job is going really well but an important relationship is in shambles. Maybe you’re in tip-top shape but you’re more in debt than you’ll admit to anyone. Even yourself. It can be hard to think about this objectively – let alone do anything about it – without some kind of tool. A Life Wheel may be just that tool! A Life Wheel is a visual tool that provides a balcony-level view of your satisfaction in various aspects of your life, and you can see whether this is relatively balanced or not.
How it works
My Life Wheel has 7 categories:
Career
Family
Friends, Fun & Recreation
Health & Well Being
Living space / Transportation
Money / Legal
Personal Growth / Spirituality / Giving Back
I list the categories here in alphabetical order, so as not to imply priority. I put them on the wheel with the color I most associate with them and in rainbow order (because I’ve loved rainbows since my early days, when I bought gel rainbow stickers along with Boynton ones).
The process of filling out the Life Wheel involves selecting one category and thinking about what already brings you joy, as well as what could make it even better?
Based on this evaluation, rate the category out of 10 where 1 is pretty terrible and 10 is all you could dream of! Then shade in the wedge and repeat for the remaining categories. Once you have done this for all 7 categories, take a look at the shaded portion. Is it uniform or jagged?
Some considerations
Don’t think about any particular category in terms of good or bad. This is not meant to be an exercise in judgment. Think about it more in terms of ‘how close am I to what I consider ideal right now’?
Your opinion on what is ideal or even important can change over time. And the better you have defined your version of what ‘ideal’ looks like, the richer this exercise can be! But it can also be very rewarding to just do it off the cuff, on gut feel.
You may be surprised that I don’t believe “everything at a 10” is the goal. That would imply that there is a perfect standard (that you will never have a different opinion about) and once that is achieved, it can never get better. And then perhaps… we stop growing? Ugh. I don’t think so. To use the analogy of money, if I put $1000 under my mattress, I’m literally ‘losing’ money month over month, year over year… because of inflation. However, if I put my $1000 in an account that earns interest (at a greater rate than inflation) then I’m continuing to make money. And if I continue to put money in that account… the growth can be exponential. Similarly, if one were to think “Hey, I’ve achieved a perfect physique!” and then just stop working out, stop paying attention to their nutrition… well, you can finish that sentence.
The same can be said about our lives overall, our aspirations and our dreams. They keep evolving and changing! What if your dream house was a spacious Victorian when you have a young family, are eager to entertain and have boundless energy to keep the place up. But when you are “well seasoned” and an empty nester… that dream house may just look like too many stairs, too much space, and too much to clean. Those are both valid perspectives that a single person may have over time.
So it’s good to do this exercise periodically and see how it changes over time.
For a copy of my Life Wheel (with instructions and additional detail on what each of these categories includes), contact me and request a copy! ($39 value but my gift to you if you enjoyed this blog!)
You are unique and you deserve to absolutely love your life! This is why I love working 1-on-1 and in small groups to help you find ways to create beautiful, dynamic balance in your life! If you are interested in a discovery session to learn about working together, please contact me.
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