When life is busy, or all your energy is focused on a special project, it's all too easy to find yourself off balance, not paying enough attention to important areas of your life. While you need to have drive and focus if you're going to get things done, taking this too far can lead to frustration and intense stress. That's when it's time to take a "helicopter view" of your life, so that you can bring things back into balance. This is where The Wheel of Life can help. Commonly used by professional coaches, it helps you consider each area of your life in turn and assess what's off balance. As such, it helps you to identify areas that need more attention. The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you'd ideally like it to be. It is called the "Wheel of Life" because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

1. The Wheel of Life

2. That’s when it’s time to take a
“helicopter view” of your life, so
that you can bring things back into
balance.
This is where The Wheel of Life can
help. Commonly used by professional
coaches, it helps you consider each
area of your life in turn and assess
what’s off balance. As such, it helps
you to identify areas that need more
attention.
The Wheel of Life is powerful
because it gives you a vivid visual
representation of the way your life
is currently, compared with the way
you’d ideally like it to be. It is called
the “Wheel of Life” because each area
of your life is mapped on a circle, like
the spoke of a wheel.
When life is busy, or all
your energy is focused on
a special project, it’s all too
easy to find yourself off
balance, not paying enough
attention to important areas
of your life. While you need
to have drive and focus if
you’re going to get things
done, taking this too far
can lead to frustration and
intense stress.
Rachel Wade
Breakthrough Master Coach
www.opthr.co.uk
07736 167450
rachelwade@opthr.co.uk

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The Wheel of Life
The Wheel of Life is a popular exercise used in coaching. It is a
powerful tool and very effective in showing a snapshot of our life.
It enables us to identify areas which are out of balance and make
small steps to address this in order to achieve a more fulfilled
personal and professional life.
© OptHR Limited 2015 - 2019

4. Follow these simple instructions on how to use the Wheel of Life to identify specific areas of
life you would like to work on and why:
1. Brainstorm Life Areas - Start by brainstorming the six to eight areas of your life that are
important for you. Different approaches to this are:
• The roles you play in life, for example: husband/wife, father/mother, manager,
colleague, team member, sports player, community leader, or friend.
• Areas of life that are important to you, for example: artistic expression, positive
attitude, career, education, family, friends, financial freedom, physical challenge,
pleasure, or public service.
• Your own combination of these (or different) things, reflecting the things that are your
priorities in life.
Here’s an example:
Health/Fitness Career/Business
Family
Relationships
Sports/Hobbies
Social life
Personal
Development
Finances
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www.opthr.co.uk © OptHR Limited 2015 - 2019

5. 2. Write down the areas of your life that are important to you on The Wheel of Life
diagram, one on each spoke of the life wheel.
3. Score each category on the wheel from 0 to 10 according to how satisfied you are with
each area of your life. ‘0’ is the centre and represents not at all satisfied, ‘10’ is on the
outside and represents completely satisfied.
4. Now join up the marks around the circle. Does your life wheel look and feel balanced?
5. Now have a look at your wheel to see how balanced or uneven it is. Are there any
surprises for you?
6. Ask yourself, which ones have the lowest score and why?
7. Ask yourself, which ones have the highest score and why?
8. Using the worksheet Wheel of Life – Steps To Achieve ‘10’ Write down what would
make each area a ‘10’. Describe what this would look, sound feel like and what might you
be saying to yourself.
9. Score each area in order of importance and/or a priority to you as life is now. With ‘1’
being most important.
10. Put the amount of time as a percentage (%) of your total time that you spend on each
area of your life using the headings on the wheel and on the worksheet.
11. Reflection – After filling in all of the scores, The Wheel of Life is completed. The spider
web now shows any surprises, peaks and drops or regularity.
With scores from 8 to 10 you are very satisfied in a specific category. It is important to
ensure that this is maintained, but that improvement in this area is always possible.
With scores from 5 to 7, you are reasonably satisfied with a category, but there is definitely
a chance for improvement and to achieve goals.
Scores from 1 to 4 show that someone is not happy at all about this particular area. You
have to find ways to improve the satisfaction here.
1. BUSINESS & CAREER
How satisfied are you with your job, is it
the job that you had imagined or would you
rather pursue another career? Does the job
bring you happiness and satisfaction? Does
the job earn enough for a living? Etc.
2. FINANCE
Are all incomes enough to meet all basic
needs and other needs? Are you not
dependent on loans? Do you not have any
debts? Is money the only thing that makes
a person happy? Etc.
3. HEALTH & FITNESS
How physically and mentally healthy are
you? How do you feel? Are you satisfied
with your appearance and weight? Do you
have any physical discomforts? To what
extent are you engaged in sports? Etc.
4. FAMILY & FRIENDS
Are friends supportive, unconditional and
trustworthy? Can friendships be built upon
and friends always be counted on? To what
extent do you spend your free time with
family and friends? Etc.
5. ROMANCE
Have you found happiness in love? Do you
have a new partner or a committed partner
who you can build a life with? Etc.
6. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
How do you deal with personal growth. Are
you open to new experiences and eager to
learn? Are you spiritually connected to both
the inner and outer world? Etc.
7. FUN & RECREATION
Are you enjoying life? Do you practice
hobbies or sports? How do you spend your
free time? Etc.
8. CONTRIBUTION
Do you help others? Do you volunteer? To
what extent are you active at (sports) clubs,
in the neighbourhood or taking care of
family members? Etc.
www.opthr.co.uk © OptHR Limited 2015 - 2019

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Nevertheless, such scores provide plenty of opportunities. Often, it has been forgotten that
this is possible, and therefore it is good to consider this. The following questions can be
useful for this:
• Why did you give yourself such a low score on this category?
• What is the ideal score for each category?
• What score do you want to achieve after a month, after 3 months, after 6 months and
after a year?
• Which categories score less?
• Which categories are of individual importance to be able to achieve balance?
The completed Wheel of Life is an individual starting point and can be disappointing or
balanced in appearance. It says something about how efficient and effective someone is in
life. Of course, it is easy to be extremely satisfied with one category, but what else should
happen to the other categories?
For example, if you spend all the time and energy on your career, that will undoubtedly
also have a positive effect on the finances. But to what extent are you then satisfied with
relationships with friends and family? What is the result of this for health, well-being and
relaxation?
By looking at all aspects and ensuring that they are all connected, the balance can be
found in life. The key is to find the balance and that is exactly what the Wheel of Life is
about. It allows people to see what they are currently living in, forcing them to think ahead
and find limits, which makes the wheel expand and grow.
12. Take Action – Now you have a visual representation of your current life balance and your
ideal life balance. Where are the gaps? These are the areas of your life that need attention.
And remember that gaps can go both ways.
There are almost certainly areas that are
not getting as much attention as you'd like.
However, there may also be areas where
you're putting in more effort than you'd
ideally like. These areas are sapping energy
and enthusiasm that may better be directed
elsewhere.
Once you have identified the areas that need
attention, it's time to plan the actions needed
to work on regaining balance. Starting with the
neglected areas, what things do you need to
start doing to regain balance? In the areas that
currently sap your energy and time, what can
you stop doing or reprioritise or delegate to
someone else? Make a commitment to these
actions by writing them on your worksheet.
Tip:
You can use the Wheel of Life as preparation for goal setting or coaching. It helps to
identify the areas you want to work on and is a great way of visualising your current and
desired life. Once you are working on improving your life balance, it's also a useful tool for
monitoring your life balance as it changes over time.
© OptHR Limited 2015 - 2019www.opthr.co.uk

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Wheel of Life – Steps To Achieve ‘10’ Worksheet
The following steps will allow me to be completely satisfied and score‘10’ on each of the areas
that are important to me on the Wheel of Life:
Here’s an example:
Area of Life: Health/Fitness Priority No: #1 Percentage of Time: 20%
1. I weigh 9 stone 10 pounds
2. I go to the gym 3 times a week
3. I feel great, I look good in my clothes, I hear compliments from my friends.
Area of Life: Priority No: Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No: Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No: Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No: Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No: Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No Percentage of Time %
Area of Life: Priority No Percentage of Time %
Things I will START doing to regain
balance in my life
Things I will STOP doing, reprioritise or
delegate
© OptHR Limited 2015 - 2019www.opthr.co.uk

8. I believe everything is possible.
If you want it, you can get it.
And with me providing coaching, mentoring, and
accountability, your life could be entirely different
in as little as six months time.
07736 167450
rachelwade@opthr.co.uk
Rachel Wade
Breakthrough Master Coach
www.opthr.co.uk