Where are you today, have you thought about your “Wheel of Life”?
Have you ever wondered why it is that everyone else is so organised, efficient, effective at work? You seem to be struggling, never having time, never getting anything completed, just stressed, overworked and overwhelmed? But what about the rest of your life? Work is only one segment, think about your health, finances and relationships, are you really thriving, which areas of your life could use some extra work?
Do you feel full of energy, do you feel that your life is full of vitality or are you tired, exhausted, worried, stressed, anxious all the time.
What part of your life are you ignoring? what part of your life needs attention?
Do you want to achieve balance in your life? But what would that balance look like and how would you achieve it?
The wheel of life is a way for you to take a good, hard look at each area of your life, each segment defines an area and by deciding how happy are you in each area of your life, you can focus on a segment that needs more attention.
When you think about each segment in your wheel, think of it like the spokes of a wheel. If the wheel turns seamlessly, then the end of the spoke is 10/10. At this point, life is in balance. But some spokes are shorter, in fact, at the hub of the wheel, they are 0/10 leaving life out of balance.
Looking at your wheel is like taking a helicopter ride and viewing your life from above, you can see where you are excelling, where you are the happiest, but also you can start to see those areas where you need some focus, where you wish things looked differently.
For each segment you want to think about where you are today and where you want to be in the future. Once you know where you are, you can start to take baby steps to move forward. To enable you to know where you are going, you need to know where you are right now.
It’s by looking at each segment of life that you can start designing your own life instead of just making do or letting someone else design your life. Now is the time to start creating the life that you want and here is the road map that tells you where you want to go.
I'm going to give you my areas that you might want to focus on, you don't have to, it's your choice.
The first segment that I think is the most important is your physical health. Think about it, when you're not at the top of your game, everything looks bad, but what would be 10/10 - what does that look like? feel like? A 10/10 for a 20-year-old could be washboard abs, bikini ready body, but a 10/10 healthy body can look very different to a 60-year-old, I want to walk the sea front, I want to play tennis. It's your perfect 10 that counts. Once you know what a perfect 10 looks like for you, where do you score yourself today?
My second segment to think about is relationships. Firstly, think about the relationship you have with yourself, how often do you spend time by yourself thinking about who you are, what you want, where do you want to go, what makes you happy, all those things that make up you. Second part of relationships is with your spouse or your loved one. How is that relationship? Is it deep and meaningful or are you ships that pass in the night? The third part relationship is your family, it might be your children, your mum and dad, your extended family. The final part in relationship is those of your friends. I find that friendship relationship should be the best relationship that you have as these are the ones that you choose. With family you don’t have an option, you're either born into it or you have created it, but your friends are different, you get to choose and often with these relationships, you have less expectations, certainly have less expectation than with your spouse or your family. So, on a scale of 0 to 10 where would you put your relationships today and where would you like them to be. This is completely personal to you; it’s about how do you feel and what do you want to achieve.
The third segment for consideration is your reasons or what I call my “happiness”. What’s your purpose? your reason for being here? what is it you want to achieve? What in life is most important to you? What makes you the happiest? Is it financial freedom? is that really what you want? Is that really going to make you happy? If you had all the money in the world, was sitting, doing nothing at home, would you really be that happy? Think about what your life purposes is, what is your meaning of life and how does that make you happy. On the scale of 0 to 10 mark yourself as where you are on your "reason/happiness", your purpose in life and where you want to be. If you've never thought of this, then think where you would like to be, I'd like to know my why, be living it and working towards it every day.
The next segment is what I call altruistic, it’s not just about where you are in your religious/spiritual life, it’s about where do you contribute in life. How much do you contribute to other people? How much do you serve other people? Maybe it’s quite a lot, but what’s your internal drive to do this? are you happy about doing it or do you feel that it is expected of you, that it’s something that you must do. The opposite to serving, is celebrating. Do you celebrate your achievements? Do you celebrate your family’s achievements? On a scale of 0 to 10 thinking about how much do you serve your family, your community. How much do you give back? coupled that with how much do you celebrate your achievements. Mark yourself from 0 to 10 about where you think you are right now and where would you like to be.
My fifth segment is finances. Money is important, but how important is it to you and how satisfied are you? How do you feel about money? How do you feel about how much you give to your family? Do you contribute to society? and do you want to do more than that?
In this segment I want you to think about where are you today and where do you want to be? Are you strapped for cash but want to feel financial freedom in the future? Mark yourself about where you are today and where would you like to be in the future. Remember it’s personal to you and what it means to you today.
The next segment that I focus on is job, career or your mission. How do you define your work? Often a job is something that we do between 9-to-5, we don’t even think about it, we do it and take the paycheque. A career is something slightly different, this is where we have a bit of a plan about where we are today and where we want to go. A mission is our "why", our purpose, what we were designed to do, the reason that we are here on earth. This is something that you absolutely love, where you jump out of bed because you’re desperate to start work. Think about where are you on this scale, if it’s a job and that’s all it is and that you want, then score it, how happy are you with the job? Does it meet your needs? If it’s a career, where are you with your career? how happy are you? and if it’s your "why", your mission where are you? Have you achieved what you wanted to achieve? Mark yourself out of 10 as to where you are today and where do you want to be.
My next segment is environment and I use this loosely to mean anywhere that I spend time. Think about where you live, does it support your life? Be honest with yourself, could you do with a good tidy up, open that wardrobe, that drawer that’s stuffed full of what? Declutter the space and you declutter your mind. What about your office or where you work? Does it support you and the job you do? Mark how you feel your environment supports your life and where would you like to be in the future.
The final segment for me is “daily achievement”, how successful am I? have I achieved what I wanted today? What I mean by this, do I really get all my to do list completed? Do I feel at the end of the day that I have completed everything that I wanted to? It’s not only did I complete everything at work, but did I do a good job or was I stressed overwhelmed overworked. Also, what about the impact on my homelife, did I create a balance between home and work? Did I accomplish every that I wanted to accomplish for both? Mark yourself out of 10 about how you feel at the end of the day. Then mark what do you want to feel at the end of the day?
You've now completed the helicopter ride and you can view a wide perspective of your life. Is it what you thought it would be? Is it as expected? Or have some segments surprised you?
Let me know what you were most surprised about - or maybe you'd like to discuss it - either way, email me and let me know.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. If this post has made you think and you would like to make a change, then contact me and we can have a free 30-minute chat about how I can help you.
About the Author
Elizabeth Pickering is a Resilience coach, who helps people find resilience within themselves to inspire, lead and motivate themselves both at home and at work to avoid burnout, stress and exhaustion.
Let me know what you were most surprised about - or maybe you'd like to discuss it - either way, email me and let me know.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. If this post has made you think and you would like to make a change, then contact me and we can have a free 30-minute chat about how I can help you.
Elizabeth Pickering is a Resilience coach, who helps people find resilience within themselves to inspire, lead and motivate themselves both at home and at work to avoid burnout, stress and exhaustion.
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