This is a classic tool. The life wheel. Simple, straightforward, and always very informative. Doesn’t take long to do, and yields a tremendous amount of insight into which parts of your life are getting time, energy and attention—and which are not. 

You get to check out how satisfied you are with the aspects of your life that you care about as it is now, and compare that to how you’d like it to be. Personally, this has helped me realize at times that I’m operating with a pretty lopsided wheel. And it’s given me clarity about where I can bring in more balance.

How you do it:

• Draw a circle with 8-10 wedges, like a pie.

• Label each wedge with an area of your life—classic examples include: Career, Money, Health, Relationships. These are awesome, and I would encourage you to think about areas of your life that truly, deeply matter to you. Other examples might include Physical Vitality, Creative Expression, Connection, Service, Recreation/Fun, Spiritual Growth, Intellectual Engagement. Think outside the wheel, so to speak!

• Draw a dot in each wedge rating your satisfaction with that aspect of your life as it is now. The center of the wedge represents zero/not satisfied, and the outer edge represents ten/very satisfied. 

• Draw a line between each dot in the wheel until you come full circle.

Check it out. Do you see a relatively round wheel? Is there an area that clearly could use more reflection, time, energy, intention? Is there anything here that surprises you?

None of us ever have a perfectly round wheel. Probably most of ours, especially when we first do this, look a little bit like the image above! But it never hurts to take a step back and check out how the ole wheel’s lookin’ and tend to what could use some love and attention.