Wheel of Life: How to reflect or redirect your life

After a two-week break that coincided with the end of the Australian Financial Year and the school holidays, I took time to reflect on several areas in my life. It seemed like a good time to do this. I find that six months into the year and taking the time to do a quick stocktake on how satisfied I am with areas of specific importance works much better for me than doing it once a year. It is also an excellent time to see how far I have come in the year’s first six months and what I might want to adjust for the 2nd half.

Using the Wheel of Life to reflect

I like using the Wheel of Life for myself and my clients in various formats (see diagram for one example). I particularly like its simplicity as well as the visual aspect. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes my brain needs a quick way to assess where I am today and where I want to be in a future period determined by me. It also helps me to stay focused on the areas where I need to create a change plan.

Taking the time to reflect and reassess is an excellent opportunity to redirect or reinforce. To reorient oneself in areas that might have gone out of wack for whatever reason and allow the opportunity to adjust. While I like the Wheel of Life, many other great tools also exist to help you. The point is to take the time to reflect and reassess. If change is needed, you can do it now and be better for it by December. If no change is needed, keep going knowing you are heading towards your objectives.

Enjoy!

The Wheel of Life Exercise – Instructions

1. Review the eight categories on your Wheel of Life. The categories together create a view of an integrated or balanced life for you. There is no right or wrong answer, as it is personal to you and where you are today.
2. If necessary, you can split category segments to add something missing or re-label an area to make it more meaningful for you. Examples could be:
   • Significant Other: Changing it to “Dating”, “Romantic Relationship”, or “Partner”.
   • Career: Changing the category name to “Motherhood”, “Work”, or “Volunteering”.
   • Finances: Changing the category to “Money”, “Financial Security”, or “Financial Freedom”.
   • Health: The category name could be split or changed to “Physical”, “Fitness”, “Spiritual”, or “Wellbeing”.
   • Home Environment: The category could be split or changed. Consider “Work Environment” for a career.
   • Fun & Leisure: Consider “Recreation”, “Joyful moments”, or “Travel”.
   • Personal Growth: The category name could change to “Learning”, “Self-Development”, or “Spiritual.”
   • Other categories you might consider including might be “Leadership” or “Community”.
3. Please think about what success or satisfaction is like for each area.
4. Now rank your level of satisfaction with each area of your life by drawing a line across each segment. Place a value between 1 (very dissatisfied) and 10 (fully satisfied) against each area to show how satisfied you are with each category. Use the FIRST number that pops into your head – don’t overthink it; you already know!
5. Once you complete step 4, step back and look at the wheel. Is the wheel where you want it to be? Are there ratings that surprised you? Are there areas that are lower or higher than what you want them to be? Why? And what might you do to adjust or change totally?

Bonus step

Grab a different colour pen and draw a new line in each area to where you would WANT it to be. It can be more or less than the line you have there. Again, there is no right or wrong answer. It is about taking a moment to reflect and reorient where you want to see potential changes happen.

Bonus Exercise

As change can be challenging for many of us, I recommend picking 1-3 areas that you can think about and putting a plan together to bring you closer to your desired state. You can be as ambitious as you want. It’s your plan. 

And because long-term change can be challenging for many of us, I find that short and practical steps one can take are much more rewarding and reinforce the habits and behavioural change one might wish to make.

One way of putting a quick plan is to do the following exercise. I have filled out a simple example to demonstrate.

Getting expert advice on complicated areas

Finally, you might consider working with a mentor or coach if some areas are complex. For example, suppose work or career was between 1-5, and you want it to be 6-10, and you can’t see a path to change. In that case, you might consider seeking assistance to determine whether you are maximising your career opportunity, skills and experience and that you are in the best supportive environment for your ambitions. The point is that sometimes you cannot do things alone, so find a trusted thinking partner and work to build up the areas you are dissatisfied with.

Final thoughts

I have used the Wheel of Life in many ways, such as in my career or a specific project I am working on (you break down the project into project areas such as stakeholders, deliverables, executive sponsor, etc.). It is quite a simple but versatile tool and customisable to what works for you.

I hope it will be useful if you are in a reflective mode and looking for a quick and effective way to do a stocktake on where you are today and where you might want to be. Remember, this is just a tool to help clarify some things for you. Change happens when you take action to change. Reflecting and redirecting, followed by action and readjusting as needed, is vital.

As always, if you invest in yourself, the rewards will be unfathomable.

Until next time.