Life Balance Wheel
What is it?
This is simply a reflection activity, and the Wheel template is designed to help you focus on each area (Health, Self-care, Fun, Family, Friends, Relationships,Finances, Home, Routines/Systems, Rest), and spend some time thinking about which areas in your life are working well and you are happy about, and which ones aren’t working so well, and you would like to change or improve.
Looking at the overall Wheel when you have completed this activity, you will have a good sense of how you feel about how the areas around you are working.
From here you can see where you would like to focus your attention this year and set some goals to work toward increasing the score for that area.
How do I use it?
Start at any category on the Wheel and spend some time thinking about that category and give it a score out of 10 that you feel is an accurate and honest rating for that area during the past year.
Then draw a line around that segment up to the score you have given for that category, and then colour in the segment of the Wheel.
Continue around the Wheel and spend some time thinking about each category and give each one a score out of ten. Ask yourself “How did I go last year in this area?”
After you have assessed each area and coloured in each segment with a different coloured pen or pencil, you will have a visual representation of your Life Balance Wheel and you can see if it looks in balance for you. You might notice some areas that could use some focussed attention. An important reminder now is that there may be some areas that you did not score as particularly good (1-4), however, that area may not be a priority for you this year, and in that case, you don’t need to act on it or set any goals if you don’t want this year. You can just leave it and accept it for what it is.For example, you might score your Home as a 4 or 5 because you feel it needs some renovations, however, that might not be achievable this year, or you might have other higher priority areas for this year, so you won’t set any goals to increase the rating for that category. You just accept that it is going to stay at that rating for now and perhaps in the future you may choose to focus on that category.
How do I define the categories on the wheel?
Here are some examples of how I define the categories. Yours do not need to be the same as mine. There is no right or wrong.
Keep in mind for all the categories when you are reflecting, we are thinking about what you have control over!
Health – drinking water, sleep, moving each day.
Self-care – taking time for yourself to recharge yourself. Activities that make you feel good and fill up your own cup. This could be time alone, reading, a bath, a pedicure, a cup of tea in the sun, a family movie, an early night etc …
Fun – activities you do for no other reason than for enjoyment, to fill your cup, and brighten your day. Things that make you laugh, playing a game … think about what you enjoy doing.
Family – the four of us, my parents, Tim’s parents, siblings, and their families.
Friends – your friendship circle.
Relationships – I choose this to be myself and my husband. If you are not married, this could be a partner, or a close friend, a work mate, a cousin – any person that you want to have a strong relationship with.
Finances – budgeting, spending, saving, loans, and debt – mortgage, etc …
Home – how it functions as a space. Ask yourself, do I want to do some renovations? Do I like how it looks? Is there something I want to add or change in my house? What maintenance is needed?
Routines/systems – how the house and your life run! E.g.,laundry system; how do I keep on top of my laundry? Do I have routines for keeping up with the housework? Are my routines working? etc …
Rest – doing nothing, sleeping. Ask yourself, how am I feeling? How much rest do I make time for? How much rest have I had lately? How much do I need?
Again, please remember this is personal, please define the categories however you would like. You do notneed to have the same as me.
How do I score each category?
This is personal, and for me when I complete the Wheel, the scale I use is: 5 – average; 10 – no improvement needed; 1 – not functioning at all/ nothing is going right in this area!
Note – I don’t score any areas higher than a 9! 😊
For example: Family – I feel really fulfilled with this one. I have great relationships with both my immediate family and our extended family. I am super happy with this so will give it a 9.
Self-care – if you recognise you have been spending a lot of time on others, and not enough on yourself. Perhaps then this is an area that you want to prioritise this year and make timefor yourself. You might score Self-care as a 4.
Finances – how do I feel we are going with our finances for the things we have control over? For us, I feel that we can improve in this area. I think we have overspent in some areas lately, for example, on eating out. So, I would give this a score of 5 or maybe 6.
Health – how do I feel? Have I been drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, moving each day? How do I think I am going? For me, this is a 7 or an 8 for 2021.
What happens next?
When you have finished assessing each category on the Wheel, you will easily see the areas that you are doing well and feeling good about.
Look at the areas that are high/good and think about what you need to do to maintain that level or improve it even more. Set some goals.
Look at the areas that are low and think about if you want to focus on one or more of these, and if so, what you can do to improve the score. Set some goals.
Please remember this is not here to overwhelm you. Use it as an opportunity to be excited!
If there are some areas that you have scored low, and they are important to you, then I don’t want you to feel disheartened – we can work toward fuller areas that are important by taking one small step after another.
You have the power to put steps into place to address this.
An important reminder here is that there may be some areas that you have not scored as good, however, if that area is not a priority for you this year, then youdon’t need to take actionon it or set goals if you don’twant to this year. You can just leave it and accept it for what it is.
For example, for me, there are some renovations that I would like to have done in our home, and some parts of our home that I am not happy with, but this isn’t a priority for me for this year.
Looking at Rest – you might be busy, but still feel okay and thrive like this, so you would rate it high. However, if you are tired and being so busy is making you feel run down and that you aren’t getting enough rest or sleep, then you are likely to score this one low, and feel it is important to take some action on this area.
If you want to focus more on Self-care this year, then add this to your planner, revisit it often and check inwith yourself. Set some goals each month.
For me, I want to prioritise my relationship with Tim. I have already thought about some ways to do that and will add some time in my planner for this.
I hope this helps and that you remember it’s all about starting small and getting that snowball rolling!
You’ve got this ❤