When you’re busy (and who’s isn’t?) it’s easy for your life to get out of whack and you can easily fall into the habit of not paying enough attention to the things that are really important in your life.  You may not even see it happening but you certainly feel it.  Sure, you need drive and focus if you’re going to get things done but taking it too far can lead to frustration, dissatisfaction and extreme stress. The wheel of life exercise is used extensively by life coaches and gives you a birds-eye view of the way your life is now compared to how you want it to be so that you can bring things back into balance. Here’s how it works:

Take out a blank sheet of paper and draw a big circle, now draw lines across the circle to form 8 spokes so that your circle looks like 8 pieces of pie and resembles the photo in this blog. Next label each slice of your circle with the following categories.

Virtually every part of your life can fit into one of these areas.  Write down at least 1 or 2 things that are important to you in each area of your life. Perhaps under ‘physical’ it is working out or eating healthy, or in the ‘lifestyle’ area it is taking vacation, spending time with friends or going to a monthly movie, you get the idea, just make it personal to you. I know this can be a little time consuming, but hang in there…it’s worth the effort!

On a scale of 0-10 imagine the center of your wheel represents 0 (poor) 5 is in the middle of each slice and the outside of the circle represents 10 (perfect). Consider each segment of your life and rate where you are now on a scale of 0-10 compared to your ideal. Mark a dot in each pie slice that represents where you are now in each area.

Here’s the fun part. Connect the dots. What shape have your dots created?  The big question is…Does your wheel turn?

Now you have a visual representation of your current life. Where are the gaps? These are the areas of your life that need attention. Remember gaps can go both ways. Some areas of your life may need more attention while other areas may be sucking up too much of your time, sapping your energy and leaving you feeling burned out. Use this information and TAKE ACTION to restore balance and start creating life the way you want to live it!