Using the Wheel of Life to Evaluate Your Life

 

Maybe you’ve seen it before or maybe this is the first time you’ve even read about it, but the Wheel of Life or Life Wheel as others call it, is super cool and it’s a tool that ANYONE can use to improve ALL aspects of their life. The Wheel of Life let’s you visualize the different areas of your life and once you fill out the different areas, you can really see where you need to improve to balance your life more.


It’s often used by life coaches so their client can really take a look at their life as a whole and see the different parts of it and how when they are lacking in certain ways it can make the whole wheel wonky. By looking at the wheel as a whole you can see what parts of your life need worked on and what parts you are thriving in.

I’ve seen a variety of wheels but mostly they are made up of similar categories that look like pie slices. These categories include fun, spirituality, physical environment, career, health, finances, romance, friendships, and personal growth. So for someone that is thriving in their career slice, they may notice that their health slice and personal relationships slice seem to be weak. Perhaps they’re putting too much focus on their career which is making other parts out of whack. The whole point is to have a more balanced looking wheel so you’re thriving in different areas but not sacrificing your health, relationships, etc. When you have a wheel that’s in balance you are more likely to be centered and whole. It’s totally okay for the wheel to go out of balance from time to time because that’s just life, but the whole point of using the Wheel of Life is that you can assess what parts of your life are out of balance and then work on ways to improve them and get it in balance with everything else.

So you can take the Wheel of Life assessment for free online or you can find an image of one you like online and print it and fill it out. You will draw a dot in the middle of each piece of pie with 0 being the lowest rating and 10 on the outside of the wheel being the highest. You rate your sections on how balanced and thriving you think they are. So if you are having major struggles with personal finances maybe your finance section will have a dot very close to the center. When you have rated each section you basically connect the dots. Don’t freak out at your wonky wheel. This just means you have work to do.

So how did I use the Wheel of Life?

First I found one I liked and printed it out. I drew my dots and connected them. Then I took a journal and used one page for each section of my wheel. For each section, I wrote down the rating I gave it, why I gave it that rating, and how I think I can improve that section. Then I made a bulleted list of ACTION ITEMS that are things I need to put into action in order to improve it. So for finance it could be stop spending out of budget, set up automatic savings transfers with my paychecks, work overtime or a side job, etc. I focused very careful on each section, one at a time.

Next, I made sticky notes to use at home and at work that have some of the action items on them as a reminder. So for my career, it had a lower rating because I often feel burnt out and I am often times the go to person for EVERYTHING. So I now have a sticky note that says things like Say No, BOUNDARIES!, Take at least 1 walk break a day, remember to delegate. This note actually combines career AND physical health since I’m also remembering to get out of my seat and move. Then I created a section in my journal to write about my journey. So the one week I basically explained how I was feeling less stressed at work since I was learning to say no more, setting more boundaries, and getting away from my desk for breaks more regularly. This year, probably in the Fall, I will re-evaluate my Wheel of Life to see what sections have really improved.

Honestly, this has really helped me with some major life transformation. I think the biggest help is the fact that these big aspects of my life are broken down into smaller and smaller pieces and I create my own plan of action based on my OWN life. It’s been much more effective than reading someone else’s generic advice. I swear now that simply assessing my own life all on my own has made a huge difference and I really WANT to make the changes necessary to improve my overall wheel balance. I’ll be sure to post more updates throughout this year.

Are you going to use the Wheel of Life?

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