The holidays are upon us! And with that comes the new year, and with the new year comes — you guessed it — resolutions! While goal-setting is an important part of life all year round, the approach of the new year reminds us to reflect on our life, and where we want to be.
What goals do you have for yourself? What’s the best way to accomplish those goals? It’s simple (if not easy): assess your life as it is, focus on the path toward the goal instead of the goal itself, and don’t try to do everything at once.
December is the perfect time to assess your life and your priorities. Use the Wheel to Life to review what you are thankful for. Honestly look at what you would like to be different in the future.
The Wheel of Life
The Wheel of Life is a great tool for keeping your life in perspective. It encompasses the eight main areas of life: career, relationships, family, friends, recreation, health, finance, and spirituality.
Of course, these areas of life all interconnect and affect each other, but taking a look at each area in turn can help you identify where things are going really well, and areas of concern that you may need to address in the future.
Use the Wheel of Life to take stock, and be honest with yourself. Where are you now? How is your health? How about your relationships with friends and family? What is each area of your life really like?
Give yourself a rating out of ten for how satisfied you feel about each area, then ask yourself if you’re spending the right amount of time in that area.
For instance, you might say, “My finances are a 6/10 right now, and I’m not spending quite enough time paying attention to them.” Or you might say, “I feel very supported and loved in my family, and I know they feel very supported and loved—so that’s a 10/10, but I I’ve been spending so much time with them that I’m not getting any time for myself.” Your wheel would be lumpy and not run very smoothly – just like life when it is out of balance.
What, if anything, would you change?
Maintain balance
Using the Wheel of Life to take stock of how you live is a great way to maintain balance. No pie chart can add up to more than 100%, and the way you spend your time follows the same rule.
If you spend a huge amount of your time working, it means there’s less time to spend building relationships. Hang out in the gym all day, and you’ll have less time to spend on spiritual pursuits.
It’s not up to me to tell you how much time and energy you should expend in each area of your life. Maybe you love being a gym rat. Does your career bring you more joy than kicking back and relaxing in a hot tub? Great!
The point isn’t for us all to lead the same balanced life. It’s to find YOUR balanced life! And the path toward that starts by looking at your life as it is, right now.
I love this wheel of life (balance!) What a great way to approach life by giving each category a rating. That way, it’s easier to step back and see which facets of life might want more attention in the coming year. I’ve noticed that when an area needs A LOT of work, it’s hard to focus on other things. Because more work means more time and attention, which leaves less attention for other parts of the pie. But still, it’s a worthwhile exercise to get a big vision of where you are and which areas you’d like to focus on going forward.
Thank you Linda! Yes, the bird’s-eye view helps keep our life in balance overall.
I love this wheel of life image. It helps me take a step back and reassess if things worked or did not work this past year. While I write it in bullet form, I include all these areas in my goals for the year.
I’m looking forward to reviewing the goals from this year in January. It is a self-care way for me to see how the year was spent and what I accomplished and improved on from the prior year and review what needs more focus in the new year.
That’s a great idea, Sabrina! Writing down goals is a great way to save them for the year, so you can really see how you did.
I think this little graphic may just be the foundation of our New Year’s Eve dinner conversation. What a great way to think holistically about life, and perhaps considering areas to consider bringing in some adjustments!
Thank you Seana! You definitely get it.
I love the graphic for the Wheel of Life and it definitely shows why my life can feel a little bumpy. Visualizing it like this makes us all much more mindful of what we’re doing, and whether we’re actually taking actions to lead us, intentionally, where we want to be. I love the way you’ve laid this out. My wheel may have a wobble, but at least I have a road map!
Thanks for the compliments, Julie! I’m glad the graphic spoke to you : )
This is fabulous, Katherine. I love the wheel of life! I’ve never thought about it that way but the analogy resonates with me. You are so right when you say that each person’s wheel will be divided differently and to listen to yourself. I also like the idea of taking time to evaluate each spoke of the wheel. Thank you for posting this!
You’re welcome, Diane! I’m glad the analogy works for you : )
The wheel of life gives you the big buckets to focus on. Life can be hectic and it’s a nice way to regroup and give your attention to what really matters. Love the cool, calm blue and green colors, too.
Thanks, Deb! I like the phrase “big buckets!”