The Wheel Of Life

Have you ever felt that your life is off track?

While some areas receive all of your attention, others get none. Perhaps your career is on track, but you no longer have time for your family and friends, or your work is unfulfilling, and you are not growing or learning.

You are not alone. Harmony in life – relationships, career, health, spirituality, finances, and beyond – is hard to achieve and seemingly impossible to maintain.

Achieving a balanced existence is essential.

After all, your mental wellbeing is underpinned by finding high levels of meaning within your daily tasks and activities.

 

So, how do you find balance in your life?

What often holds people back is a lack of conscious awareness regarding their lifestyle.

Life coaching can help by focusing on where you are now and where you want to be.

In this article, we look at the Wheel of Life, a tool that continues to prove popular in coaching and self-development. It offers enormous insight into aspects of your being that are thriving or struggling. It also helps guide you to the changes needed to remove barriers and push through difficult times

What Is the Wheel of Life?

Being overwhelmed – unable to connect and balance the essential dimensions of your life – can leave you feeling out of control and unsatisfied.

But how does it happen?

Our lives move out of balance “when the fulfillment of basic psychological needs has been thwarted within ongoing patterns of day-to-day occupations” and it causes harm to your wellbeing.

Put more simply, your life is out of balance when your basic psychological needs, including autonomy, relatedness, and competence, are no longer being met

Perhaps you are focusing too much on your family while your relationship with your partner slips away, or you are prioritizing your work over your spiritual growth.

To lead a more fulfilling existence and achieve your life goals, we need to regain an equilibrium.

An appropriate work–life balance will enhance your overall wellbeing by identifying and aligning the many facets – family, friends, health, work environment, and spirit – of your life

Using the Wheel of Life exercise will support this process by balancing factors that influence overall wellbeing while identifying areas of life where support, guidance, and additional focus are needed.

Introducing the Wheel of Life

The Wheel of Life exercise is widely used in coaching and beyond and offers a practical and flexible tool for people to assess their needs and set goals aligned with their core values.

Its appeal and beauty come from it’s simplicity.

The wheel typically consists of between eight and ten categories essential for a fulfilling life.

Segment names vary, but the themes are usually similar, for example:

• Money & Finances
• Career & Work
• Health & Fitness
• Fun & Recreation
• Environment (home/work)
• Community
• Family & Friends
• Partner & Love
• Personal Growth & Learning
• Spirituality

A score is placed in each segment to reflect the current level of satisfaction. Using a pre-drawn diagram, such as the one below, a number is circled (or filled in) next to the appropriate dimension.

CLICK HERE to download the CURRENT Wheel Of Life template HERE

 

How to Use It in Life Coaching

While there are plenty of online versions of the Wheel of Life, it may be less distracting for a client to have a physical copy in front of them and complete the exercise in pen or pencil.

Alternatively, coaches might consider inviting their clients to complete the Wheel of Life digitally before a coaching session. Then, they can explore their ratings for each particular domain during their in-person discussion with the coach.

For a great tool for the job, check out the coaching app Quenza, which includes the Wheel of Life in its library of coaching and psychoeducational activities that coaches can share directly to their clients’ Android or iOS devices.

When completing the Wheel of Life, the client scores each category on the wheel between one and ten (or sometimes one and five) to represent their level of satisfaction.

For example, a fit young person may give health and fitness a seven, while money and finances may receive a relatively low score, such as two.

By rating each segment, the client and the coach can identify areas that need attention and improvement.

Often, based on the scores, the wheel will appear ‘bumpy,’ but this is natural, and offers a quick view of overall life satisfaction. The priorities, and how they rank in terms of importance, subsequently feed into a goal-setting exercise.

The Wheel of Life exercise can be repeated at regular intervals to understand progress along with potential changes in focus resulting from evolving circumstances and new priorities.

Importantly, the scoring provides a permanent record of successful personal transformation and a clear insight into the value of life coaching.

 

Here is a great video to walk you through the steps to effectively using a Wheel of Life

Steps involved in the Wheel of Life exercise

The following steps describe how you complete the Wheel Of Life Activity for yourself, without the aid of a coach.

Step one – Introduce the Wheel of Life

• Download a copy of the  CURRENT Wheel of Life.
• Review the meaning of the following categories, along with the scoring method:
  • Money & Finance
  • Career & Work
  • Health & Fitness
  • Fun & Recreation
  • Environment
  • Community
  • Family & Friends
  • Partner & Love
  • Growth & Learning
  • Spirituality
• Rename, remove, or add any new categories that feel relevant to you.

Step two – Rank the categories

• Score each category by drawing a line through or adding a number, where one is not satisfied at all and ten is fully satisfied.
• This Part of the exercise provides an overview of the level of satisfaction in their life.

It will look something like this….

Step three – Review the wheel as a whole

Once completed, look at the outside of the wheel, think about its overall shape, and consider the total life balance.

Ask yourself following questions to open up a thoughts on your current life satisfaction:

• When you look at the shape of the wheel, how do you feel?
• How would you like to change the shape of the inner wheel?
• What surprises you the most?
• What would a score of ten look and feel like?
• Which category would you most like to improve?
• What category would you most like to start with?
• At present, how do you spend time in each area?
• What do you need to improve the score in each area?
• What small steps would have the most significant impact on your satisfaction?
• Could a single action improve more than one area?

Now Complete a NEW TEMPLATE HERE, based on Future you… How you want your Wheel of Life to look like?

Step four – Review each section

Consider learnings and actions taken from completing these two wheels;

• Why does an area need attention?
• What would it take to increase your satisfaction by one score?
• How balanced do you feel in this area of your life?
• Why did you give this score?
• Is there anything missing from this area of your life that may affect your score?
• Is there anything that might add value to this area of your life and change the score?
• What will it take to make my new wheel a reality?

Now turns these insights into actions.

 

Step Five – Revisit and review

Periodically, revisit the wheel and re-score it to understand the changes made and the actions outstanding. This is especially useful for you to explore your progress and ensure your goals and action remain relevant & meaningful.

 

Ongoing check-ins are also helpful to understand overall patterns of behavior and any negative thoughts or emotions that are blocking the changes.

And finally, remember that balance is rarely retained for long. Circumstances and priorities change; the aim is to continue the journey toward balance and avoid entering a fixed mindset that prevents transformation.