How satisfied are you with your life? Can you sum up your response in a sentence or two or is it more complex than that?
Today, we are going to use a simple tool called the “Wheel of Life” to conduct a life assessment to determine where you are satisfied and where you have opportunities to increase your satisfaction.
Life has its natural ebb and flow and ups and downs. By taking a closer look at how satisfied you are in different areas of your life you can identify trends in a particular area. Is there a consistent area where you are not satisfied? What can you do to shift that?
Using this printable, we are going to assess where you are on a scale from 0 (not satisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied) in the following areas of your life:
Relationships – Family, Social, and Romantic
Emotional – Internal and External
Financial
Spiritual
Intellectual
Career
Health – Nutrition and Fitness
One at a time, review each category and sub-category, taking note to make any changes that are relevant to your life, i.e., crossing off a category/subcategory or making new ones.
Taking the center of the wheel as 0 (not satisfied) and the outer edge as 10 (extremely satisfied), rank your level of satisfaction in each area by drawing a line to create a new outer edge. You can also list the number that you identified for that area.
Just a note on the Emotional area of life: I have separated this into two parts, the internal and the external. Please note, this is my interpretation. Feel free to scratch it off or change it if another subcategory makes more sense to you. I believe sometimes our emotional life or emotions inside can be mismatched by the emotions that we're sharing externally.
For example, say something happens in my life and I'm really disappointed about it, but there's another person involved. I may hesitate to express my disappointment and instead put on a happy face and respond from that place. That would be an example of there being an incongruence in my internal and external emotions. It may come down to the question as to whether or not you are expressing how you're feeling accurately or transparently.
evaluate without self-criticism
Please note, this exercise is not about being critical of ourselves or creating guilt or shame about where we are not satisfied. It is to take a more objective look at life as a whole and evaluate its different areas to identify opportunities for change.
By spending the time assessing what is and isn’t working we can get clear on what it is that we want to change. As you go through this step-by-step exercise, notice if for some reason, guilt or shame, or other feelings arise for a particular life area(s). Though it may sound counterintuitive, oftentimes it is those feelings that can keep us from making the changes we desire.
Sense into your body for answers
Take as much time as you need with each category but at the same time be conscious if you’re overthinking it. Sensing into your body, instead of your mind, for an answer as you move along can help you get an accurate “feel” for how satisfied you are in a particular area.
Our brains are really good at telling us stories and rationalizing things. All of this is in service of our survival and protection. Taking the opportunity to “listen” to what the body is sharing can help provide more clarity. And having that clarity can help you identify where you are starting if you are looking to make a change.
When you have finished completing the new perimeter of your Wheel of Life, notice any categories that are below a five and circle any areas that are below a three. Are there changes in these areas that you’d like to or have been trying to make?
Completing this exercise on a quarterly basis can help you understand where you’re making strides and if you’re making strides. It can also help you get a clear picture of where you are, so you have a better idea about where you’d like to go.
