Recently, I watched a YouTube video from a personal development guru on “The Wheel of Life”.

In short, the Wheel of Life is a simple visual representation of how your life currently is, compared with the way you ideally want it to be. Of course, it’s in the shape of a wheel! (More on this in a moment.)

I thought to myself, “This looks awesome – I MUST do this.”

And you know what I did? Like many great ideas, I instantly forgot about it.

Then New Year’s Eve 2021 arrived. New year, New me. Keen to do some reflection, I was browsing online and rediscovered the Wheel of Life tool.

What did I have to lose? I filled it in and I was astounded. It took just one minute for me to realize that I was FAR from where I wanted to be.

This was the kickstart I needed to really take action.

As I write this article, I can confidently say that the Wheel of Life has completely changed my own life. Or, rather, I have changed my own life because I had a new level of visibility. I finally had a way to track my own progress.

But this article is about helping YOU.

So I have written this guide to share some simple, effective best practices that I learned along the way, with the hope that you also achieve the outcome of increasing the fulfillment you feel on a daily basis.

Here’s to the lifelong pursuit of becoming better than your former self! 🥳

What is the Wheel of Life?

The ‘Wheel of Life’ is simply a visual snapshot of your life.

Each area of your life is represented in 1/8th of a circle. Kind of like a life pizza 🍕

There are many different versions of the wheel, but the categories typically include:

• Health
• Career
• Love
• Spirituality / Personal Development
• Family & Friends
• Finances / Money
• Fun
• Contribution

How did the Wheel of Life originate?

While there doesn’t seem to be one single source of the modern Wheel of Life, the original version actually stems from Tibetian Buddhism.

It was originally called “Bhavachakra” (which is “wheel of life” in Sanskrit) and it had six major sections that represent the “Six Realms”.

These realms represent different forms of existence or states of mind to which humans are born based on their Karma. Most Buddhists understand the wheel in a non-literal way.

The modern version has been adapted for more practical use.

How does the Wheel of Life work?

Firstly, there are a couple of ways to use the Wheel of Life.

#1 – Fill it in digitally and download it as a PDF.

#2 – Print it out on paper and fill it in with a pen.

Personally, I like to do it digitally as I can easily keep the record in a folder for future use.

Now that you have a baseline, you can very clearly see what areas of your life you need to work on.

It may be a bit depressing at this stage, but don’t worry – it gets better quite quickly!

Revisiting the wheel on a frequent basis (we recommend a monthly revisit) will keep you focused on self-improvement, even when life gets hectic.

How long does it take to do?

The wheel of life assessment that we have linked to below takes around one minute to complete and another minute to save to a folder.

Yes, it’s THAT easy. Two minutes of your time!

Once you get into a rhythm, it’s useful to block out 15 minutes at least once a month to reflect on the comparison between last month and this month, and think about how you can keep pushing forward.

Every three months (each quarter) is a great frequency to revisit your 10s. In our guide (link below), we recommend blocking out two hours and dedicating 15 minutes to defining what a 10/10 looks like in each area of your life.

Is doing the Wheel of Life worth it?

You’re a busy person. Do you even have time to do the Wheel of Life? Is it worth it?

If I told you I could give you clear visibility of where you are in every area of your life in 60 seconds for FREE would you take me up on the offer?

Probably.

We find that the Wheel of Life is one of the fastest ways to capture low-hanging fruit with our client’s personal development.

It immediately gives us an idea of where there is the most room for improvement for people committed to maximizing their potential.

Who is The Wheel of Life for?

Honestly, I think the entire world would benefit from doing this exercise. We find that this works well for anyone who wants to grow personally and/or professionally.

In other words, unless you’re intentionally trying to sabotage your life, this is for you!

Why is the Wheel of Life important?

Are you looking to become the greatest version of yourself?

The Wheel of Life is one of the quickest ways to recognize where you should be focusing your energy.

For instance, 9/10 times when I sit down with founders looking for direction or to increase their business success, there is a disbalance in other aspects of their lives.

In fact, because they have spent so much time and energy on their business or finances, other aspects of their lives have fallen behind.

Oddly enough, by putting work into the polar opposite aspect of the wheel, they naturally find more fulfillment at work and re-organize their priorities.

That’s right – eating better or spending time with your kids can make you happier at work!

Having said that, every single human has a unique experience.

Identifying the challenges is only half the battle.

Once you’ve gone through the Wheel of Life exercise and identified the areas of your life where you have the most opportunity for growth, it’s time to actually DO the work.

How do I apply the Wheel of Life to my life?

How can we achieve a 10/10 if we don’t know what a 10 looks like?

Firstly, watch this video on how to quickly use this tool to your advantage:

Next, go use the free Wheel of Life tool. Take this quick assessment and save it to a folder where you’ll be able to easily access it.

Meanwhile, here is our guide on “Designing your 10”. Just copy the document and save it to the same folder as the assessment.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!