Sometimes we may not feel completely satisfied with our lifestyle, but at the same time we are unable to see what aspects are failing and blocking us. A first step for transformation is self-analysis and identification of those areas on which it is necessary to work to improve. To do this, from coaching there is a technique called the wheel of life, which facilitates this task. If you want to know more about this tool, keep reading this Psychology-Online article: The wheel of life: what it is and what it is for.
The wheel of life: what is it
The wheel of life is a visual personal coaching tool which makes it easier to obtain a graphic view of the aspects that make up our lives and the degree of satisfaction and balance with respect to them. This technique was originated by Paul J. Meyera pioneer in the area of personal and professional development and founder of Success Motivation Institute.
The pillars of its philosophy are personal development and achievement of objectives, proper time management and enjoying success. However, the origin of the graphic representation of vital areas dates back to Buddhism, where there is the Tibetan Buddhist wheel of life or wheel of karma.
The wheel of life: book
It is important not to confuse this coaching technique with Elisabeth Kübler Ross’s wheel of life. Although they both have the same name, They are independent and they refer to different areas, so they are not related to each other. The book of the wheel of life is the title of the book by this Swiss author and psychiatrist, which from a spiritual perspective addresses the theme of death through the story of her experience with terminally ill people. However, no reference to this exercise of personal analysis appears in this book.
The wheel of life: what it is for
The wheel of life is a self-analysis technique of the various areas that make up our lives, promoting awareness about the vital moment in which we find ourselves and the aspects in which we must work and improve to achieve greater satisfaction. This tool is useful and serves to:
- Get a greater perception and perspective regarding the spheres that make up our daily lives.
- Identification of the importance we give to different areas of life and which ones require more work since they are not as satisfactory as we would like.
- Evaluation of the level of satisfaction, both global and partial or by aspects.
- It facilitates the decision-making process regarding which areas we should improve due to mental clarification.
- It stimulates action because it clarifies the direction in which we must focus our energy and effort.
- Promotes motivation by providing focus and encouraging goal setting and planning.
- It allows the visualization of the progress made over time if it is prepared on a regular basis.
- It can be applied in different contexts, such as business or school.
Image: Positivalia
How to make the wheel of life
Below we show you the steps to make the wheel of life:
1. Represent the areas in a circle
First of all you need to draw a circle and divide it into different segments or portions, which represent the different vital spheres. The name of the areas is written outside the circle. There is no established number and fixed with respect to the divisions it should have, you can modify it and add and remove according to your criteria.
Even so, eight areas are normally analyzed:
- Personal growth
- Family
- Health
- Friendship
- Work or studies
- Economy
- Couple relationships
- Leisure
There are mobile applications like Wheel of Life APK and Life Wheel which allows you to do it from the app itself. Likewise, several models of wheel of life templates are available on the internet for download.
2. Score each area
How to score on the wheel of life? A score is chosen for each of the outlined aspects. according to the degree of satisfaction what we feel about them. The range goes from number 1 to 10, with 10 being the maximum score. The lower the score, the more towards the center and the higher the score, the closer to the edge, to the name of the area, or directly to the edge if the score is higher.
3. Connect the dots
The next phase involves joining the points or scores and observing the shape that our wheel of life has acquired.
4. Analyze
How to use the wheel of life? Regarding the analysis of this tool, if the resulting drawing or shape of the lines is harmonious and it resembles a circle means that there is a level of balance in our life. On the other hand, the irregular shape, with various peaks and highs and lows, reveals those areas that need to be worked on to increase satisfaction levels. The normal or usual thing is to obtain a wheel with uneven aspects and an irregular shape that indicates that the effort and time invested in these so far is not being completely effective.
5. Reflect
Once you have identified those areas with which you are not completely satisfied, it is advisable to ask yourself if improving satisfaction in this specific area is really important or if you are being too demanding and perfectionist. If the answer is yes, that it really is important to you, then it is necessary to change the approach or approach adopted so far.
6. Decide where to start
After this, you must decide in which area, of all those to improve, you are going to start working. It is not always necessary to start with the one that has a lower score, since depending on the moment in your life it is more advisable to give priority to one that does not have the lowest score. Likewise, it is important that you analyze the relationships or links between the different areas, since this can also help you make a decision in this regard.
7. Make a plan
The last step is to establish an improvement and work plan for those areas that require it. To do this, reflect on the methodology used so far, which one you have used in those areas in which you obtain satisfaction and what aspects could be applied or transferred to these other aspects. Brainstorm possible ideas strategies to followestablishes specific and short-term objectives to reach the final goal or objective. Based on these steps, create a planning through lists, schedules and visual diagrams. Finally, conduct a weekly review of the objectives and their achievement to make adjustments if necessary.
Image: Emprenditool
The wheel of life: summary
The wheel of life is a technique that comes from coaching, whose objectives are self-diagnosis and reflection about the different spheres that make up our lives. This tool, devised by Paul J. Meyer, allows an evaluation of the degree of global and partial satisfaction in different areas of operation, promoting the identification of what we must improve, the decision-making process, direction and the establishment of a work plan in accordance with objectives regarding our own development. Likewise, it can be, and is recommended, done at different vital moments to analyze the needs and observe the evolution over time of the aspects that make up life.
This visual method is developed using a circle that must be divided into as many areas as we wish and consider meaningful to us. Once the parts that we are going to evaluate have been selected, it is necessary to rate each of the aspects according to the degree of satisfaction we feel with respect to them and join the different points to obtain a form that informs about balance or lack thereof, In our life. Subsequently, we select the area on which we will begin to work and establish objectives and a plan that guide our action. It is important to emphasize that the wheel of life is not merely an informative and analytical tool, but its purpose is oriented towards motivation, direction and action in achieving goals.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Kübler-Ross, E. (2013). the wheel of life. Vergara.
- Zeus, P., & Skiffington, S. (2004). Practical “Coaching”: Complete Guide to Techniques and Tools. McGraw-Hill, Inter-American of Spain.