The Work-Life Balance: Wheel of Life

Monday, 8:30am
From: Work/Life Balance Entrepreneur Coach Vanessa Long, Newmarket, Ontario.
To: Solo-preneurs, Small Business Owners, Heart-Centred Entrepreneurs, Purpose Seekers

The Work/Life Balance Wheel of Life

Is Your Wheel Rolling Smoothly? Or is it Stuck?

The Wheel of Life is a quick and simple technique to see just how balanced your life is.

Notice I said 'quick' and 'simple'… the worst thing you could do with the Wheel is think too much about how to fill it in. It's best to allow your unconscious mind to give you the answer very quickly so you get a true view of how you're doing. Trust me on this one, your conscious mind will over-analyze and over-agonize on whether you're doing it 'right' or not.

You are doing it right and, yes, those are the real values. Trust your first thought on this one.

Here's how you use the Wheel of Life:

1. Print off the Wheel of Life so you can have a nice, clean copy.

2. Find a moment to yourself so you won't be interrupted. Get nice and quiet.

3. For each section of the Wheel of Life ask yourself: "How full am I in this area?" or "How satisfied am I in this area?" Your mind will give you an answer like, 'Oh, about 1/2,' or 'Gak, almost nothing,' or 'Rockin' it! Almost full.' Whatever answer it gives you, and that answer may include a percentage, shade in the section, starting in the centre and working your way to the edge.

Think of the edge as 100% full and the centre as 0% full if you're a numbers kind of person. All the sections of the Wheel should only take a couple of minutes to shade in – keep yourself moving at a brisk pace to avoid over-thinking.

Here are the sections of the Wheel of Life along with some of their components:

1. Physical: Health and Physical Environment

2. Mental: Personal Development, Stimulating Hobbies & Projects, Mental Control

3. Emotional: Love and Intimate Relationships, Emotional Control and Stability

4. Professional: Money, Career, and Professional Development

5. Social: Friends and Family, Community Involvement, Your Contribution

6. Spiritual: Your Connection to the Divine, Your Practice

4. When you have filled in each section, look at the Wheel and notice if it looks like you're getting a smooth ride or a bumpy ride. Is your Wheel small right now, or is it a big Wheel representing a full life? Here's one example of a filled in Wheel. 

We can get all sorts of information from the Wheel but what matters most is how 'full' this person is feeling. In Physical and Spiritual they are really full – they're getting their needs met and rockin' those areas. Professional is pretty full as well.

We can also see that Mental, Emotional, and Social are feeling pretty empty. What has this person sacrificed for the three full areas? These are all questions we'd go into much more during a strategy session or goal-setting bootcamp.

5. Notice the areas on your Wheel that are least filled in – these are the areas that are being sacrificed for the rest of your life. We'll figure out what to do with those sections later, but, for now, see if your mind gives you any quick suggestions on how to fill that section up a bit… or a lot.

6. Fill out your Wheel a few times each year to record your progress to a more balanced, full life that is closely aligned with your joy and purpose.

Let me know about your 'Aha's!' – I love to hear from you.

Here's that blank Wheel of Life for you to use. Just click on the image and it will bring up a printable .pdf.