Assessments

 

Finding balance in your life

 

The Wheel of Life

Wheel of Life
Figure 1 - Wheel of Life

The Wheel of Life is a great tool to help you improve your life balance. It helps you quickly and graphically identify the areas in your life to which you want to devote more energy, and helps you understand where you might want to cut back.

The challenge now is to transform this knowledge and desire for a more balanced life into a positive program of action.

When life is busy, or all your energy is focused on a special project, it’s all too easy to find yourself “off balance”, not paying enough attention to important areas of your life. While you need to have drive and focus if you’re going to get things done, taking this too far can lead to frustration and intense stress.

That’s when it’s time to take a “helicopter view” of your life, so that you can bring things back into balance.

This is where the Wheel of Life (or Life Wheel) can help. Commonly used by professional life coaches, it helps you consider each area of your life in turn and assess what’s off balance. And so, it helps you identify areas that need more attention.

The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you’d ideally like it to be. It is called the “Wheel of Life” because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

 

Using the Tool

 

Use the following steps to create your Wheel of Life and assess your balance.

Start by downloading our free Wheel of Life Tool which contains a blank Wheel of Life diagram as shown in figure 1.

1. Place a mark on each line and on a scale of 0 (low) to 10 (high), to identify where you are at in each area of your life. Write down the amount of attention you’re devoting to that area of your life. Mark each score on the appropriate spoke of you Life Wheel.

2. Now join up the marks around the circle. Does you life wheel looked and feel balanced?

3. Next it’s time to consider your ideal level in each area of your life. A balanced life does not mean getting 10 in each life area: some areas need more attention and focus than others at any time. And inevitably you will need to make choices and compromises, as your time and energy are not in unlimited supply!

So the question is, what would the ideal level of attention be for you each life area?

Plot the “ideal” scores around your life wheel too.

4. Now you have a visual representation of your current life balance and your ideal life balance. What are the gaps? These are the areas of your life that need attention.

And remember that gaps can go both ways. There are almost certainly areas that are not getting as much attention as you’d like. However there may also be areas where you’re putting in more effort than you’d ideally like. These areas are sapping energy and enthusiasm that may better be directed elsewhere.

5. Once you have identified the areas that need attention, it’s time to plan the actions needed to work on regaining balance. Starting with the neglected areas, what things do you need to start doing to regain balance? In the areas that currently sap your energy and time, what can you STOP doing or reprioritize or delegate to someone else? Make a commitment to these actions by writing them on your daily coaching notes sheet.

Tip: You can use the Wheel of Life as preparation for coaching or goal setting. It helps identify the area you want to work on and is a great way of visualizing your current and desired life. Once you are working on improving your life balance, it’s also a useful tool for monitoring how it changes over time.

The Wheel of Life is a great tool to help you improve your life balance.

 

Download the Wheel of Life Tool Now (PDF)