Rolling into 2024: A Retro & Reset Guide with the Wheel of Life

Hello dear readers,

The year has just kicked off, and I believe it's a perfect time for a retrospective and audit of the results from 2023 and to set new goals. To be honest, I planned to introduce this post and method on Jan 01, but thanks to COVID... Anyway, hey, it's better late than never, right? ??

During many coaching sessions, I often hear, "I don't know what I want and where I should improve my life. I just want it to be better." I get it; sometimes, it's hard to pinpoint what's not perfect, making it challenging to set a plan and dive into steps. If you're facing the same problem, rest assured, it's not unique, and you can fix it easily without reinventing the wheel.

A bit of theory

The original concept of the Wheel of Life is credited to Paul J. Meyer, an early pioneer in the personal development industry in the 1960s. The assessment's initial purpose is to determine your current level of fulfillment or satisfaction in each of the Wheel of Life categories. After this initial "life audit," the Wheel becomes a coaching tool for setting goals and tracking individual progress.

About the method

The Wheel of Life (or Personal Balance Wheel) is a visual tool or exercise used in coaching to help you quickly understand how balanced or fulfilled your life is at the moment. The wheel usually comprises eight categories or areas that are important for a whole and balanced life, but you can set as many categories as you want. After all, you know best what holds the most value for you. That's why I don't believe in internet templates or a one-size-fits-all approach. Customization is key.

Why it works?

The effectiveness of the Wheel of Life Exercise lies in its ability to provide a quick, bird's-eye view of your overall life satisfaction. The ratings in each category represent an instinctive, "gut" feeling—what your instincts convey—rather than the "should" responses we often provide to meet social expectations or maintain a positive image.

Example of categories

Each sector is a sphere of life:

• Career: Evaluate satisfaction with your current position.
• Career Prospects: Assess growth potential in your workplace.
• Money/Finance: Analyze financial strength independently of your career.
• Self-development: Learn things that interest you unrelated to your occupation.
• Study: Include professional education and activities to enhance your professional self.
• Personal Life: Your relationship with your partner.
• Family: Relationships with relatives, children, parents.
• Friendship: Relationships with your close social circle.
• Communication and Environment: A wider circle of communication, including colleagues and acquaintances.
• Hobbies: Interests that can bring additional income or what you love to do in your spare time.
• Travel: From a weekend trip to a neighboring city to around the world.
• Rest/Leisure: Your favorite way to recover or have a good time.
• House: Household issues, including repairs.
• Health: Physical well-being.
• External: Beauty, grooming, and the impression you make on others.
• Mental Health: Evaluated separately due to its unique nature.

Did I miss something? Do you have a better option to include in the list? Great, let's do this!

Now, where to next?

After deciding on the sectors, rate each area of life from 0 to 10, from extreme dissatisfaction to complete satisfaction.

Values of 0-3 are alarming, 4-7 require attention, and 8-10 are close to ideal.

Ideally, the wheel should be round, but in practice, this rarely happens. Is the wheel of your life rolling?

After your assessment, identify which areas stand out the most. By working through them, you'll significantly increase your overall life satisfaction.

Let's ride the wheel!

Now that you see WHERE YOU ARE (point #1) and WHERE YOU WANNA BE (point #2), and you've got your focus and clear vision on problems, how do you understand where to start? Before diving into setting a detailed plan for your perfect life, I suggest asking yourself 5 questions:

1. Review result: How do you feel about your life as you look at your Wheel?
2. Are there any surprises for you?
3. List the sectors with the lowest indicators: How do you currently spend time in these areas? How would you like to spend time in these areas? What would make that a score of 10? Describe what a score of 10 would look like in that area.
4. Determine in which areas of life changes depend only on you. Highlight areas where changes require the assistance of other people.
5. Think about which area you would like to start making changes in the near future. What can you do right now to achieve at least +1 point in the lowest sectors of your wheel? What is the smallest step you could take to get started?

Now you've highlighted the most important or critical area of your life. The problem disappears, and..... a task appears! And how do we resolve any task? Correct, we use the SMART method! If you missed that, no problem. Just read my post with detailed instructions here .

And finally, if you want to avoid the wheels coming off, just set a tradition to run this practice every 1-3 months, and progress and joy will always be around you!

BONUS: Dear readers, why reinvent the wheel when I've got a personal balance wheel template just for you! Simply click on this link: Google Sheets Template , add it to your Google Drive, and input your data into the "Current" column.

Happy wheeling! ??