The Wheel Of Life

By Teresa Peters

Have you heard of the Wheel of Life? Why not grab a pen and take a helicopter view of your WHOLE life right NOW!

Many coaches use assessments such as a life wheel to help clients determine what to work on. I also use career wheels, business wheels and strengths wheels, where we create relevant categories to suit the needs of my clients. The Life Wheel considers the WHOLE person. During a first session, I sometimes ask a client to rank their satisfaction in each area of their life (you can choose these on your own wheel, an example would be home and environment, personal growth, health etc), I then discuss this with them, which gives us a clear area to focus on in order to increase their satisfaction. The categories all carry different associations, feelings and meanings for each of us and the wheel can change frequently. It’s a brilliant tool for measuring success and steps towards your 10/10 goals.

HOW TO USE THE WHEEL AND QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF?

 Rank your satisfaction with each of these areas of life from 1 to 10. 

What stands out to you as you look at how you ranked these different areas?

Write about your two highest and your two lowest scores. 

What led you to give you these answers?

Which areas are you most motivated to work on?

What does the 10 out of 10 look like in each area of the wheel?

How important is it to you to get a 10 out of 10?

This video explains more about the wheel should you have a more auditory or digital auditory learning style.

THE WHEEL CATEGORIES EXPLAINED

Notice how the categories and language used will have different meanings for each of us. Right now, Home and Environment could mean your office, since so many of us are working from home. Personal Growth could carry a spiritual context, or you may want to learn what do to improve yourself. Health and Recreation could include what you do to take care of yourself. Some people break this down further into mental health, exercise and nutrition. Family can mean relationships with your immediate birth family or relationships with your spouse and children.

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to label each of these categories. How we see each category or feel about each area of our lives differs from person to person. Some people will have an up and down ride and feel comfortable with that, whilst others prefer, and need, a more balanced wheel. Some people are happy with never achieving a 10 out of 10, whereas others picture a 10 out of 10 as the only way to move forward.

What does your wheel look like? What do you notice? What goals will you set to take you from a 4 out of 10 to a 5 out of 10? Remember not to overwhelm yourself with what a 10 out of 10 perfect outcome looks like, or feels like. It's the small journey goals and habits that we make to get there. 

CAREER OR BUSINESS

Many of us are pivoting, or have been made redundant. I myself have had to pivot a publishing company as a result of the pandemic.

What does success mean to you? 

Write down your definition of what a successful career or business looks like. 

What would have the biggest impact in this area of your life? 

What and how can you move your score up by 1 point? And another… And another… 

What action can you take? 

What do you need? 

Who can you support? 

Where can you reach out to? 

When by?

Remember, this is about YOU – how it aligns with your values, interests and needs. Consider how you honestly feel about your career or business, then give it a score out of 10. 1 being awful and 10 being brilliant.

Find a coach or brainstorm with your friend/partner to find a way to improve your score over the next 4 weeks. 

We’d love to hear from you, if you’d like to share your thoughts about the wheel. 

Teresa Peters is our resident Geordie Accelerator Coach! Do you find yourself driving through a thick fog because your personal life and business has become convoluted? As an ICF accredited Executive Coach and Personal Performance Coach, Teresa empowers you to find clarity, focus and transformation, both professionally and personally, using a solution- focused approach and DiSC profiling. She has 2 successful businesses – one as co-founder of a book publisher for the hospitality sector (which has had to pause during lockdown) and her main business – Accelerator Coaching . 

Teresa offers a range of online and face to face support services to both male and female business owners and their teams. She finds great joy in working with couples and families who run businesses together, those making life changing decisions post redundancy or post hysterectomy who need a dynamic energetic champion and critical friend to unleash their full potential.