Have you ever felt that you are missing something in life?
You are doing well in your career, making a lot of money, have an extremely good personal and professional network, still you don’t get the feeling that everything is all right.
Chances are that you have a skewed definition of success, which has been shaped up by societal standards. You have chased career and money all your life till now, but never got a chance to get in touch with what really is important to you. You might have other parameters which you consider important, but you have ended up allocating disproportionate time and energy to these parameters based on your understanding of success. This can leave you feeling out of control and unsatisfied with your life.
This is where a tool called ‘wheel of life’ can help you.
What is ‘Wheel of Life’?
The idea of the ‘Wheel of life’ was introduced by Paul J Meyer, who was the founder of the Success Motivation Institute in 1960s. The concept is very simple. You identify 6-10 categories in your life, which are paramount to you. These categories can be Career, Health, Relationships, Family, Mental wellbeing, Spirituality, Personal growth, Giving back to society, Fun & Recreation, Money and Finances, etc. This list is not exhaustive. You are free to add any area that feels important to you.
On a piece of paper, draw a circle and divide it into as many equal slices as the number of categories identified by you. Mark the center of the circle as 0 and the point on the circumference as 10, for each category, as shown in the figure.
Image Source : Positivepsychology.com
Now comes the most interesting part. Rate all the areas you have put down, as per your current satisfaction level. For example, a person might feel that they are 9/10 in career and work but 4/10 in health and fitness, they might be a 7/10 on personal growth & learning, but a 2/10 on community.
Or your wheel may look completely different, say, like the one illustrated below.
Image Source : Positivepsychology.com
This is a powerful tool to help you get in touch with the imbalance in your life. You might discover that you are giving disproportionately more attention to a few areas at the expense of others.
Now that we know what this imbalance is, the next step would to be identify the why and how.
Ask yourself certain questions and reflect on the causes of this imbalance.
- What made me give this score to each category?
- How am I feeling after seeing my score ratings?
- How does a score of 10 look like on each of these categories?
- Which are topmost priority areas for me to work on to help me restore the balance?
After you have deepened your awareness by reflection, it is time to plan your actions. You may ask yourself the following questions to form an action plan.
- What changes will help you achieve the ideal score in the categories you selected to work on?
- What changes will help you move 1 point forward in the categories you selected to work on?
- What would be one key action in each of these categories to help you move closer to the ideal score?
- How can you make space for these changes in your life?
The ability to reflect and introspect is the first step towards the journey of self-growth. The ‘wheel of life’ enables you to reflect and become more aware in a very simple yet effective manner. It is one of the favorite tools used by all the life coaches out there.
Every time you feel a bit disoriented or wonder what I am doing with my life, go back to the drawing board with the ‘wheel of life’ and you will have answers and solutions popping up like frogs. Do give it a shot.